


Changing Tomorrow

by KieraElieson



Series: Kidge, if you squint. [3]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Angst, Fighting, Fluff, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-20
Updated: 2019-06-28
Packaged: 2019-11-01 08:53:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 21,604
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17864276
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KieraElieson/pseuds/KieraElieson
Summary: Voltron is trying to free the galaxy from Zarkon’s hold, but that may not be as simple as they think.





	1. Chapter 1

Before they settled, Allura took them to several different places via wormhole. They stayed just long enough for the Galra to notice, and then wormholed away. 

Pidge jammed the signals in a large radius around the castle, so that when they arrived at the system Allura had picked for them to secure next, the Galra couldn’t call for help. They waited in the castle until the Galra came out from the planet to attack them, and then all flew out in their lions to fight them. 

As they had expected, there weren’t very many Galra, since it was an old acquisition, far from the center of the empire, and lacking in resources. 

 

———————————————

 

They were still waiting. They had defeated the first wave of fighters that had come out, but there wasn’t the second wave that they had expected. 

A light on Pidge’s control panel lit up. 

“Shiro, they’re trying to contact the castle.”

“Can you let that one through without letting any others go through?” He asked. 

Pidge changed a few things with her scrambling protocols. “Yeah, I can. Lemme fix it so we can see too.”

“Stop!” The man yelled desperately. “Oh, thank Kerchik you can hear me! Stop firing! There are innocent people on those ships!” He wasn’t Galra, though there was a Galra commander standing behind him.

Pidge heard gasps from the others mirroring her own.

“How do we know you’re telling the truth?” Keith demanded.

“I can’t prove it, but I’ll swear by anything it’s true!”

“Paladins, stand down.” Allura said. “We will discuss terms of surrender.”

“You can discuss all you like,” the Galra growled, “but every single fighter I send out to you will have hostages in it, and I won’t stop sending fighters. If you don’t destroy them, they’ll get beyond your signal jammers and spread the word that you’re here. If I were you, I’d be discussing surrender of another sort.”

Allura broke off the link.

There was silence for three minutes. Three minutes that seemed much more like hours.

“Ok. Here’s what I want you to do,” Shiro said. A palpable wave of relief flooded through the paladins, strong enough that Pidge could feel distinctly that it came from them, even though they hadn’t yet formed Voltron.

“The ships they’re sending out are mostly small. They can’t be holding more than one or two hostages apiece. Pidge, hold back and keep an eye on life signatures, let us know where and how many. If a ship is getting too far, try to cripple it without harming whoever’s inside. Keith, Lance, Hunk, you all will be going to each ship individually. If they’re just living shields, the only Galra in them should be sentries, and you can handle that. Get your lions to immobilize the ships, then get in, take out the sentries, and get the hostages onto your lions.”

“There’s more ships incoming,” Pidge said. “Fifteen of the little fighters.”

“Ok. You all got your orders?”

“Yeah,” Pidge said, already scanning the ships ahead. “We’ve got thirty-five signatures between them all.” Then she had to sit back as the others went into the ships one at a time. They were better at it than she would have expected, considering they hadn’t done anything similar before. 

She kept scanning, trying to be sure that they weren’t missing anyone. Then she picked up something, pinging off of the castle’s scanner to scan more while still bypassing the planet.

“Shiro! There are more of them! They’re on the other side of the planet.”

“I’ll hold them until you get there,” Allura said. The castle moved off to the other side of the planet.

“Good work, Pidge. Have you got them, Allura?” Shiro said.

“Almost.” Allura replied.

“We’ve got all these.” Keith reported.

Pidge scanned again. “No, there’s still a life sign-- oh no.”

“What?” Lance yelled. 

“It’s in one of the ships we already took down.”

“I’ll get it. Show me where.” Shiro said.

Pidge highlighted the spot on the screen and sent it to him.

“Got it. You keep an eye out for any more.”

“Is--did we kill people?” Hunk asked, his voice unnaturally quiet.

“Don’t think about that, Hunk. We’ll deal with that after we get out of this fight. For now, concentrate on saving those that you can. Got it?” Shiro said.

“Yes.”

“Good.” Shiro got out of Black and jetpacked around in the wreckage of the ship. 

“There’s more ships, guys.” Pidge said.

“Got it. How many ships and people?” Keith said.

“Ten ships. Forty life signs.”

“Forty?” Lance said. “With that many, they should be able to take control of the ships themselves, right?”

They quickly flew towards the ships, invading and extracting. 

“Guys! Two life signs just disappeared!” Pidge called out. 

“What?!” Lance said. 

“Where?” Keith asked, his voice hard. 

“To your left, Keith. Farthest ship from you all.”

Keith sped over, but before he had taken out the sentries they had killed the other two hostages. The other ships were following suit. 

Shiro got back just as the last ship was dealt with. Not dealt with in the way planned, but dealt with. After Pidge had cleared a ship as having no more living passengers, Keith blasted it to smithereens. 

“Allura, I’m sending you a virus,” Pidge said. “It’ll shut off those ships, and the sentries in them. Send it to them as fast as you can, and then get the people into the castle so they don’t run out of oxygen.”

“Good thinking, Pidge,” Shiro said. “Can you handle that, Allura?”

“Got it.” Allura said. 

“Shiro, there’s another transmission.” Pidge said. 

“Play it for all of us.” Shiro replied. 

Pidge set it up to show all of them, and then let the transmission through. The Galra commander was facing the camera, alone this time. 

“Back off.” He turned the camera around, to show a group of people on their knees, Galra sentries guarding them with blasters, and more being brought in. “I’ll kill all of them if you don’t.” He shut off the transmission. 

“What are we supposed to do now?” Hunk asked. 

“For the moment, we’ll retreat. Can you keep the scrambler up without us here, Pidge?” Shiro asked. 

“Not reliably. I could try, but they’d just have to come shoot down whatever I set it up with.”

“Then…” there was a short, tense silence. “We’re going to go in, guns blazing, and we’re going to stop them as quickly as we can. We won’t be able to save them all, but any delay will just mean more lives lost at this point.”

“Got it,” Keith said, the first one to speak. The others gave a kind of hum of assent, even if they didn’t much like it. 

“Then let’s go.” Shiro rocketed towards the planet surface, and the other followed him. 

Pidge and Keith landed first, Shiro barely seconds behind them. Pidge set up the virus to broadcast out from Green, and flew around the planet, waiting just long enough for the virus to spread to anything that looked Galra. Getting rid of the sentries did a lot to save lives, since then the prisoners could get up and run away. The planet was small, but she still took a good hour to finish this one thing. Then she went back and got out of her lion, personally attacking any Galra that she could find. She kept going until Shiro called her back. 

They all gathered at the castle, and the people they had rescued were all let down at once. 

“I’m going to contact their leader,” Allura said. “Pidge, can you open the channel?”

“Sure.” Pidge opened it. They couldn’t see the video through their helmets, but they could still hear it. 

“Hello? We are Voltron. We’ve freed your planet, and would like to have a discussion with you.”

“I see.” There was silence for a minute. “We are open to such a discussion. However, we have many dead that must be properly mourned and buried. I hope you will understand and respect our request that you not set down on the planet for the next three rotations.”

“We will respect that request. If there is any other service you might—“

“No!” He said, much too quickly. “We don’t need anything else. Thank you.”

There was a soft click, indicating that the call had ended. 

“We need to talk, all of us,” Shiro said. “We’ll take a bit of time to cool down, but sometime after dinner I want to talk. And Keith, I need you.”

“Sure,” Keith replied. 

Pidge took off her helmet. She looked down at herself, covered in burn marks. Even though there wasn’t blood any on her, she felt like there ought to be. She was going to go shower. 

 

———————————————————-

 

As it turned out, the life sign on the ship that Shiro had gone to get out was Galra, or at least, half Galra. Shiro didn’t want the others to know until they had calmed down some, and asked Keith to help him get him into a pod. 

They used the disorientation that everyone had when coming out of a pod to put handcuffs on him, and start moving him towards the place they had been using as a prison. 

That is, until he managed to trip Keith, and tried to break away from Shiro, kicking him in the shin. 

“Stop!” Keith yelled, though he knew it would do nothing. He surged to his feet and chased the Galra. 

The Galra ran along the hall, smacking every pane he saw, trying to open the prison doors and cause havoc. Thankfully, the only prisoner at the moment was Marou, Kolom and Dak being held in a different part of the castle. Still, as Keith ran past Marou’s door, Marou latched onto his ankle, and Keith fell flat on his face. 

Marou wasn’t large, but he wasn’t small enough that Keith could shake him off. Shiro barreled last him, and Keith saw him tackle the Galra at the end of the hallway. The Galra didn’t seem threatened by Shiro’s arm when he turned it on. 

“I’m just gonna sit on him until you can help me.” Shiro said, far too nonchalant for the situation. 

“Alright. Get off!”

“No!” Marou said, in an oddly weak voice, especially considering how tightly he was holding onto Keith’s leg. “You chose to starve me like this, and now I’m taking what I need by force!”

“What?! Get off!”

“No!” 

“What do you even want?!”

“I want to study you all and roam the ship freely, but I’d settle for you to consider what you’re doing.”

“And what is that?” Keith said, trying to pry Marou off. 

“Even a half Galra would starve under those conditions.”

“I have no idea what you mean! Coran has been feeding you! I know that!”

“Yeah. Food.”

“What on earth are you talking about?!”

“Hey!” Shiro yelled from the end of the hallway. “How about you help me out with this one, and then we’ll see about figuring out what Marou wants?”

“Can you let go long enough for that?” Keith hissed, trying not to blow up. 

Marou let go, and scootched back. He wasn’t on his little hover pad for some reason. Keith went and helped Shiro to carry the Galra into an empty cell, ignoring the sudden cursing when he realized he couldn’t get free of them. 

“Ok, now. Marou, walk into the cell.” Shiro said commandingly. 

“I can’t walk at all. And I’m not going back into there until I have some assurance of having basic needs met!”

“In that case, you’ll have to explain what needs those are.”

“I need proximity and physical contact with other Galra, ones that won’t kill me.”

Keith leaned against the wall, and Marou pounced on his leg again. “Get off!”

“Just… bear with it a moment, Keith. Alright?”

Keith turned his glare on Shiro, but nodded. He crossed his arms and looked away. 

“Why do you need contact? You’ll have to explain.” Shiro said. 

“All Galra need it. It is a dominant trait. The Galra used to live in family groups, called packs. The more people in the pack, the happier everyone was. As the Galra have taken over the universe, they were stretched too thin. That’s why half-breeds are not a problem, because the trait passed on, and the species could continue. You can’t isolate a Galra, or they will starve to death, even if you give them food.”

“And you expect Keith, who you experimented on, to come visit you to satisfy that need?”

Marou frowned, an odd look on his weird little face. “I was under the impression that you were against torturing people without cause.”

Shiro abruptly turned around. 

He didn’t speak for a moment. 

“Convince Keith then.”

Marou didn’t say anything, and turned his face where Keith couldn’t see it. 

There was a long moment, with the only sound being dull thuds as the other Galra slammed against the sides of his cell. 

When Marou finally spoke, his voice lacked the self confidence and arrogance it always had. “Please don’t leave me here alone. I’ll work for you, if you want. I’ll tell you everything I know about anything you want.” 

He looked up, and an odd thought popped into Keith’s head unbidden; that whatever other alien Marou was must have been cute. 

“Where am I supposed to put you, though? I don’t trust you any farther than I can see you.”

Marou shrugged. Apparently confident again now that he had convinced Keith to consider options. His face was so annoying. 

“Shiro?” Keith said. 

Shiro turned back around. “Tell you what, we’ll discuss it tonight, since we’ve got to have a talk anyway. For the moment, though, you’ll have to stay in the cell, Marou.”

Marou gave Shiro a venomous look, but relinquished his hold on Keith’s leg. “How do I know you’ll come back?”

“You know enough already.”

Marou crawled back into the cell, and Keith shut the door behind him. 

“So,” Shiro said, as they walked back toward the more used parts of the castle. “As a half Galra yourself, what do you think of his claim?”

Keith shrugged. “He was looking pretty bad at the start, and much better at the end, but that could be faked.”

“No, I mean, have you experienced any differences when you had more or less people around you? Trusted people, not just anyone.”

Keith barely had to glance at his memories before and after he met Shiro, and the way he’d felt after they all started sleeping in the same room to know the answer. “It’s probably true. If…” he trailed off, sudden realization hitting him. “If it affects him as much as it affects me, starvation and torture may not actually be exaggeration.”

Shiro whistled, something Keith hadn’t heard him do since before he went away to Kerberos. “So not exactly something that can be ignored. We’ll also have to figure out something for our new guest, and it explains some of Kolom’s behavior as well. I wonder if Coran knew.”

Keith stopped walking and frowned at Shiro. “You think he would have left it like that if he knew?!”

Shiro stopped and turned thoughtfully. “Guess not.”

“But—how would it even cross your mind?”

“Coran and Allura both had strong feeling towards the Galra. Marou is part Galra, and willingly worked as a part of their forces. Not only that, but he personally was willing to hurt you and Pidge. Also, the only other Galra he could have been exposed to were you, Kolom, and Dak. You had already made it clear that you didn’t want to see him. Mixing him with Kolom could have been very dangerous, and she would never let us walk away with Dak for any length of time.”

Keith knew this. But still… “Coran doesn’t purposely hurt people!”

“We’ve never seen Coran interact with someone he doesn’t like. We don’t know that.”

Keith turned away, scowling at the floor. 

Shiro walked on, and after a minute, Keith followed. 

 

—————————————————————-

 

They had all gathered around the kitchen table. Shiro was still and stoic, his eyes closed, probably trying to figure out how to be the leader in this situation. Keith was one his right, looking more worried and thoughtful than he normally let show. Pidge was sitting on Shiro’s left, wearing a thick robe much too big for her, her hair still wet, and looking like she’d much rather be still in the shower. She had taken Shiro’s hand, and was holding onto it, staring as if it were the most intriguing thing she had found in a long time. Across from Lance, and to the right of Keith, was Hunk. The time to ‘cool down’ before the discussion had done him no good at all, and maybe had been much worse than no time at all. He looked terrible. Coran was on his other side, trying to offer comfort through a hand on his shoulder. It wasn’t working. On Lance’s left was Allura, looking the most put together of all of them. 

“We’re all here, Shiro. What did you want to talk about?” Allura said, a slight defensive edge to her voice. 

Shiro opened his eyes. “First, we should all have a proper debrief. I wish I’d started this a long time ago. It’d make things easier now. I want you to recount what happened in the fight. Just facts. Keith, you’ve done this more than they have, I want you to go after me.”

Keith nodded. 

“I led my team in an attack on the Galra inhabitants and soldiers of the planet Zhyrgg. I led them in destroying several ships before I learned that there were civilians aboard the ships. I changed the plan to save as many civilians as I thought was possible, and led my team in destroying the rest of the ships. The Galra commander threatened the death of more civilians. I knowingly took lethal action against them, and led my team in the same. I did this in the belief that if there were no more Galra to threaten the civilians, there would be less casualties.” Shiro delivered the speech in a flat, formal tone of voice, and with little to no expression on his face. 

After a moment of silence, Keith began. “I followed orders to attack the Galra on planet Zhyrgg. I destroyed as many ships as possible, and rescued civilians held hostage on them as per the orders I was given. I also landed on the planet and directly killed six Galra officers.”

Lance looked to Hunk, whose face was screwing up tight, tears leaking out the corners of his shut eyes. He sent a pleading glance to Shiro. 

“Pidge, please go next,” Shiro said, squeezing her hands. 

Pidge nodded shakily, a few drops of water dropping onto the table from her hair. “I… I scrambled the signals so that we didn’t hear the message until after we had already—“

Shiro squeezed her hand, cutting her off. “It’s not your fault. I was the one who gave you that order. You did exactly as you were told, and the responsibility for that falls on me. Not you. Never you.”

Pidge bit her lip. She gave a slight nod. 

Shiro released her hand without taking his hand away, giving her the go ahead to continue. 

“Then I watched the battlefield, and tried to help us win without letting anyone else die. Then we went down to the planet. I shut down all the sentries, and fought some myself. I killed two Galra.”

Shiro nodded. “Lance?”

Lance nodded, squeezing his hands together under the table. “I helped with the air battle, and followed orders. When we went down to the planet, I— I shot—I, thirteen Galra are dead, and three wounded. I know that I stopped more death than that, but…”

Keith caught his eye. “You did what you had to. You did well, Lance.”

Shiro nodded firmly. 

Lance tried to give them a reassuring smile, but all he could manage was a grimace masquerading as a smile. 

“I flew the castle,” Allura began, without any outside prompting. “I helped where I could in the fight, and caught the fighters that would have slipped past us. I also was the one to get the hostages out of the fighters. I indirectly killed three Galra.”

“Indirectly?” Shiro said. 

“There weren’t only hostages in the fighters.”

“And you left them with no oxygen,” Pidge finished in a whisper. 

Hunk shuddered. 

“I suppose I’ll go next then,” Coran said, his voice far too light for the occasion. “I helped Allura fly the castle. I did not take an active part in the action, however, I was aware of what you all were doing.”

Hunk’s head was ducked down into his hands. All eyes were on him. 

Lance reached across the table, his fingertips barely brushing against Hunk’s forearm. Hunk dropped an arm and gripped Lance’s hand. 

With his face still covered by his other hand, Hunk began. “I followed orders in the space fight. I was… upset, when I found out what we had done. When we were ordered to go down to the planet I did, but, then I disobeyed. I didn’t let them kill the people, but I didn’t kill the Galra I came across. I just let them leave.” He moved his hand, and his eyes were blazing, though still running tears. “If this is what we’re going to do, I want no part of it!”

Lance squeezed Hunk’s hand three times, a signal in his family. Hunk didn’t respond. 

“This is why I called you all for a discussion. Now that we’ve all heard how we see what happened, we can talk about it.” Shiro said. “It’s true that in war people die, sometimes even civilians die.”

Allura nodded in agreement. 

“But it’s not right!” Hunk protested. “How are we any better than the Galra if we kill people too?”

“Because we wouldn’t if we didn’t have to.” Keith answered. “You didn’t have to kill those Galra, they were willing to leave. Most aren’t. They believe in victory or death. And their victory means much more death than we would bring.”

“But they already have victory, they have no more need to kill people if we don’t come.” Hunk said. 

“No, that’s not true.” Pidge said. “We know that if the people on a planet do anything the Galra don’t like, the Galra are all too willing to kill a few for an example. The only other option is absolute submission.”

Hunk didn’t have an answer for that. 

“Besides,” Allura said. “The Galra have taken over and killed and pillaged hundreds upon thousands of planets. Even if they did all die, it still wouldn’t atone for what they’ve done.”

“What, so you want them all to die?” Lance asked. 

Allura didn’t reply, but her expression, and especially the tilt of her chin, said that her answer was yes. 

“That’s not right!” Pidge said. “What about people like Kolom? She may have been a soldier for them, but she didn’t have much choice in it. I don’t exactly trust her free reign with the castle either, but she certainly doesn’t deserve to die.”

“Well, she only has half Galra blood.” Allura said. 

“What about Dak?” Pidge said. “He’s three quarters. Would you be fine with killing him?”

“Dak is an infant.” Allura said. 

“What about Marou?” Keith asked. “He is half Galra, if not more, and his actions hurt me and Pidge. Yet he asked us to take him as prisoner because he knew we’d be humane.”

Coran stiffened. 

“If I met Marou in anything similar to combat, I would not hesitate to use lethal force.” Allura answered crisply. 

“I can’t go along with this!” Hunk said. “Shiro is our leader, but Allura kind of is too. I can’t follow someone who might tell me to just kill someone they don’t like.”

“I understand you, Hunk.” Shiro said. “But we are in a war, and the consequences of leaving are more than can be allowed.”

Hunk let go of Lance’s hand to cross his arms. “I wish I didn’t know that.” He hung his head. “But I do. And I know that, even for the Galra, we’re the best chance there is. No one else would think twice about killing Dak if they found him undefended. Certainly not if they found Kolom or Marou.”

“But we can’t go into things as blind as we did this time. Not again. We need to know what to expect first.” Lance said. 

Hunk nodded, and so did the others after him. 

“There’s another thing we have to talk about though,” Keith said. 

Shiro gave Keith a look, but didn’t stop him. 

“The other life sign that was in the broken ship was a Galra, or at least mostly Galra. He’s now in a cell downstairs.”

Lance nodded. “What’s the problem?”

“While putting him there, I had a… conversation, with Marou.”

“You willingly talked with Marou?” Pidge said incredulously. 

Keith shook his head. “It’s complicated. But I learned that Galra need contact with other Galra, regularly.”

Pidge nodded. “That makes sense. It also explains why he was so interested in finding out if we needed to be in contact or not.”

Keith nodded. “Apparently the more people in the ‘pack’, the happier they will be. Which is probably why Kolom has been so restless since we stopped visiting so frequently.”

Lance nodded. “I see. And?”

“We haven’t been visiting Marou.”

“Oh,” Lance said, echoed by Pidge. 

“Although, it’s specifically me that would have to visit him.” Keith admitted. “He described it as starvation. What I want to know is, did you know about this?” He looked pointedly at Coran. 

“Marou lied to you.” Allura said. “After all, you survived just fine on earth.”

“I’m half human. And the Galra genes were hidden.”

“The human side probably was able to shift over the need to be able to be fulfilled by other humans.” Pidge added. 

“I did know what Marou said,” Coran said, for once not an ounce of amusement in his face. “I didn’t want to believe him, and had many reasons I was able to use to explain to myself why I shouldn’t tell you.” He paused for a moment, but he clearly wasn’t done. “I was wrong. I apologize.”

Allura stood up. “You shouldn’t have to! You did what you thought was right, and you’ve had a lot to do, so much that it could easily have been missed.”

“I have been busy, yes, Princess, but I knew that it was wrong. I knew he wasn’t pretending, but I didn’t want to, so I pretended to myself that I didn’t.”

Lance looked at Shiro, who didn’t look half as surprised as he would have expected. Lance was surprised! Pidge and Hunk looked surprised! Well, Hunk looked more horrified, but that certainly counted as surprised. 

“This can’t happen again.” Shiro said sternly. 

Coran’s head dropped. “It won’t.”

Shiro looked at Allura. She stared back at him. “And what do you propose we do instead?”

“Probably,” Pidge started, but after looking at Allura and Shiro she stopped. “Sorry.”

“We’d have to either keep the Galra together or send Keith down there.” Shiro said. 

“And how is that acceptable?” Allura said. “If we put them together they’ll almost certainly find a way to escape. Keith isn’t available that frequently, and we don’t want to put that kind of burden on him. I didn’t want them on my ship anyway!”

Lance risked interrupting what Shiro had to say, trying the diffuse the situation. “We can come up with another option.” 

Everyone stared at him. Lance resisted the urge to back down. 

“What if we take a larger room,” he said slowly, trying to come up with a good throes option. “And we make it so that absolutely nothing in it will respond to anything with Galra blood.”

He glanced at Keith, pleading with his eyes for him not to take offense. 

“We can trust Kolom and Marou not to kill each other, I think. Then we can make another wall inside the room, similar to how Marou did when he worried that Keith might hurt Pidge. We can put the other Galra on one side of that wall. Maybe, the castle can make it so that the wall sees Marou and Kolom as ghosts, or something. We can still go in the room, just we’d have to go two at a time. That way we can keep an eye on them. We can always go back to single cells if it doesn’t work, and figure out something else to do.”

To Lance’s surprise, Keith was the first one to nod in agreement. 

“I think it might work.” Pidge said. “I’ll help with making the wall.”

“Are there any rooms that would work for this?” Shiro said, looking at Coran. 

Coran nodded. “I can think of one or two. But they would be closer to where our other guests are staying.”

“What if,” Hunk said, “We set it so that only us paladins can open the door. We don’t want to deal with any more fights.”

“More fights?” Shiro asked. 

Hunk nodded. “Our other guests don’t always get along with each other, and most of them really dislike that there are Galra on the castle. If they got to actually see them, or worse, got into the room they’re in, it wouldn’t be pretty.”

“Then we won’t let them see while we move the Galra.” Shiro said. “How soon can we get this set up?”

“If number five worked with me, I can have it ready in a few varga,” Coran said. 

“Does anyone have anything against this plan?” Shiro asked. 

No one opposed it, though Allura clearly didn’t support it. 

“Then it’s settled. Pidge, if you would go with Coran?”

Pidge nodded and grinned. “We’ll get it ready.”

Lance got up. At least everything was settled. Except, it somehow seemed like it wasn’t going to stay settled. 

 

————————————————————

 

Keith needed to get rid of the lingering bad feeling. The tension hanging in the air, making him want to go hide out where no one could find him. 

He decided to go to the training deck. If he could make himself feel like he was more dangerous than the tension and what it promised, he would feel better. 

But when he opened the door, Lance was already there, shooting at ridiculously small targets, and hitting them. Lance finished the simulation before looked over at Keith. 

“Hey.”

“Hey.” 

There was silence for a moment. Keith turned to leave. 

“Hey, wait man, I can be done if you were really wanting to—“

Keith shook his head. “No, I won’t bother you.”

Lance took a step toward him. “Nah, it’s fine.”

There was awkward silence for another few seconds. 

“Would you run group seven with me?” Lance said. 

“Group seven?”

“Yeah, the gladiators are level seven and there’s a group of them. I can’t beat it on my own, since they always swarm me, but I heard you beat it with Pidge, and I thought we could beat it together.” Lance blurted out, stopping as abruptly as he started. 

“Uh, sure.” Keith drew his dagger, since he had changed out of his armor earlier. Now that he thought about it, it would be the first time he had fought with it since coming to space. Normally he used his bayard, or an energy sword from the weapon bucket. 

Lance called out the program, and as the robots appeared, Keith picked one and attacked it. He got a good hit in, before it dissolved, defeated by a headshot. He turned to another, and defeated it himself. From behind him, he heard a grunt from Lance, who was struggling with the other three, unable to use his rifle because of the close range. 

Keith ran to him, drawing off the robots by defeating one and stabbing another. By this time the new robots had appeared, and there were five again. 

“Back off, Lance! Get where you can hit them!”

To Keith’s surprise, Lance actually did get back, and from there picked off the robots surrounding Keith easily. 

Seeing how well it worked, Keith endeavored, not to defeat the robots, but to land some hit on them as they appeared, so they would focus on him and Lance could pick them off from his position. 

The simulation was over in a matter of minutes. Much faster than even Keith and Pidge has been. 

Keith was panting, and had been burned by the robots energy weapons twice, but Lance looked exhilarated. Keith grinned at him. “We make a good team like that.”

Lance grinned back. “Let’s try again, but let’s start out knowing how we’ll do it. Yeah?”

Keith nodded. 

The next time they ran the simulation was much shorter, much cleaner. They were both riding on a high of confidence. 

After a short water break, they agreed to run the group eight simulation. 

It was much the same. Headshots killed, no matter how good the robots might be at hand to hand combat. At least, until the last robot appeared. 

It was larger than the others, and had more armor, including a helmet. Furthermore, when Keith gave it a light gash in the side, it ignored him, and sped straight to Lance, bowling him over easily. Keith spun towards it, seeing it lift its weapon over Lance. Lance’s gun had been knocked away. 

Keith threw his dagger at the robot. It wouldn’t be enough. The dagger wasn’t long enough. It wouldn’t pierce deeply enough to defeat the robot. It would still be a threat. He ran after it. 

Lance dodged the first strike from the robot, and Keith reached him before the second. He reached out and grabbed the knife where it was buried in the gladiators back. 

As soon as his hand touched the knife, he felt an odd tingling in his fingers, and the dagger morphed into a sword. The gladiator disappeared, leaving Keith to stare in awe at his sword. 

“Whoa! You never said you could do that!”

“I didn’t know I could.”

“Can I see?”

As Keith let go of the sword, it turned back into a knife. 

“Keith, this is awesome! How does it work?”

Keith shrugged, taking the knife back. He thought of the odd tingling again, trying to replicate it, and the knife transformed into the sword again. 

It had always been heavy, for a knife, but as a sword it was lighter than anything he had used before. He swung it through the air once or twice, getting a feel for how it moved. 

Keith grinned at Lance. “I wanna run it again.”

Lance grinned back. “What, the one that nearly killed me? Let’s do it!”

In the close quarters of many robots, it was more advantageous to keep his knife a knife. But when the larger one appeared, and just like last time fixated on Lance, Keith got in a clean slice with the sword, cutting the gladiator in half. 

“I think it probably comes after whoever killed the most of the other gladiators.” Lance said, once the simulation was over. 

Keith nodded. “Might could be.”

The door opened and Shiro walked in. “There you are. The room is ready, and I need your help to move people into it.”

 

———————————————————-

 

The room was large, and used to be a conference room, or so Coran said. Apparently there were almost as many conference rooms as bedrooms in the castle. All made differently, to suit both species and individuals tastes. This one was decided on because it had the one thing that was absolutely necessary to work for their purpose, an attached bathroom on each end. 

Hunk had to work on the wall, and making it regard Kolom and Marou as ghosts. Not Dak, though. He didn’t think that anyone wanted Dak to be able to wander over to the other side. 

Pidge and Coran were working on reprogramming the room so that it had beds, and setting up lighting, and all the things needed to make it habitable. Then they worked on making it so it would only respond to one of the fully human paladins. 

When Hunk had finished with the wall, he went with Coran to get blankets, pillows, shampoo, and all the other things they would need in the room. Pidge was sent to let Shiro know that they were done. 

Once they were fully ready, Hunk was on standby while Shiro and Keith wrestled a Galra into the room, and had to throw him over to the other side so they could put the wall up without trapping themselves there. It worked, but not exactly cleanly, and Hunk felt pretty terrible about it. Then Shiro and Keith went back to get Marou, and Lance and Pidge went to get Kolom and Dak. 

Hunk was left in the room with only Coran and the Galra, whose name he didn’t even know. Not that the Galra would tell him if he asked. Still, he did try asking, but only got a snarl and a glare worse than Keith’s in return. 

Lance and Pidge got back first, Pidge carrying Dak piggyback, and Lance telling Kolom all about the new room. 

“I can see why you think that this works better, but you really want me to move into a room with a person I’ve never met before, and just behind a clear wall someone else who might want to kill me and my son?”

Hunk winced. It really did sound pretty bad that way. 

“Yes.” Lance said, way more confidently than Hunk would have expected. “It might be rough to start with, but I think that you, of all people, can handle it. If it weren’t for the fact that it was you, I wouldn’t have suggested the idea.”

Kolom tipped her head back slightly, and Hunk could see that she was flattered, but not wanting the flattery to land her in trouble. 

“And what is it about me that makes you think I’d be fine in this situation?”

“That you stand up for yourself. Marou doesn’t, maybe can’t, not effectively. If he knows that a very solid boundary exists he won’t cross it. This guy doesn’t. He’d rather die than learn to live with us.”

“And you think they’re weak for that?” 

“No, I think that they’re manageable.”

Kolom smirked. “I like the way you think. But I’ll say now, this is not what I would prefer.”

Lance nodded. “Then I’ll thank you for for dealing with an unpleasant circumstance in order to facilitate good.”

And that sentence, Hunk knew, Lance had learned from Allura, and from going with her to all the diplomatic meetings. But Kolom was one better. 

“With what will you thank me?”

Lane gave her a tiny smile. “I’ll make sure that Shiro is the one to visit at least once a week.”

There was a distinct spark in Kolom’s eyes, and she agreed. 

Then Shiro and Keith arrived. Keith was dragging Marou, who was clinging to his leg like a toddler. Shiro was carrying a piece of machinery that Hunk recognized as a hoverboard. 

Kolom sent a distinctly disdainful glance at Marou, and picked up Dak. Pidge, Hunk realized, had left. He didn’t know when, but she certainly wasn’t here now. 

Keith shook Marou off of his foot. 

“Will I be able to charge my board?” Marou asked. Hunk hasn’t really payed attention before, but he now realized that Marou had as pronounced an accent as Allura and Coran did, though his was very different. 

“No.” Coran answered. “We aren’t going to chance you interfacing with the castle through it.”

Marou frowned. “It’s a hoverboard. It isn’t meant to interface with anything.”

“Perhaps, but we will not underestimate your ability to make it do so.” Coran said, with the same kind of intonation Lance had used earlier, which meant he had learned the phrase from Allura. 

Marou looked at Keith, clearly expecting him to overturn, or at least explain the decision. But Keith wasn’t paying him any attention. Both he and Shiro were watching the other Galra, who was still flinging himself at the wall. Kolom was doing the same, standing next to Shiro, while Lance was sitting on one of the beds, playing with Dak. 

“What’s so interesting about him?” Marou asked. “It’s victory or death, he’ll just find a way and kill himself. It’s all been seen before.”

Keith turned to him, more furious than Hunk had seen him in a long time. “You can’t reduce people to their race.”

“Perhaps not, but he is filling all of the signs perfectly.” Marou responded. 

“If you know so much about it, tell us how to get him to stop.”

“You have to get him to realize that he values something higher than victory. Something else to  
live for, since even death is a kind of victory.”

“Like what?”

“Previously, it has most often been other people, people he would be close to, and who would benefit more by his living. In my case, it is knowledge. I would rather lose many times, and learn from my losses, than to win and learn little.”

“In that case,” Lance piped up. “I think we’re on the right track. This is the only other bond we can give him right now. We just need him to realize it before he hurts himself.”

Shiro turned around. “It’s late. Very late, actually. Let’s all go to bed, and we’ll figure out more things in the morning.”

And it was late, probably after midnight, according to the castle’s time. 

They all went back to their room, which Lance had dubbed the Nest, and found Pidge already there, in pajamas, and laying down. Keith immediately went to her, kicking off him shoes and sitting next to her. He didn’t say anything, and neither did she. 

Hunk went to get his pajamas on, and so did Lance. 

When he came back, he heard the tail end of a slightly teary confession. “—just if I don’t see him here, it’s like it was all a bad dream. It doesn’t have to be real.”

Hunk settled down on the other side of the bed, not wanting to intrude on a private moment. Lance came in a few minutes later, his face bright and shiny from his extensive routine. He settled down on the other side of Pidge. Shiro didn’t come. He often didn’t. Hunk suspected that he was embarrassed about having woken them up with his nightmares a few times. 

Pidge must have fallen asleep, because Keith got up carefully to put on his own pajamas, which Lance had insisted he wear, since they were all sharing a bed. Keith was back a minute later, flicking his eyes over the three of them, and noting that Hunk was still awake. 

Hunk gave him a tiny wave, and then settled down further, this time to sleep.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This is a shorter chapter, a calm before the storm, the next chapter will be longer, I promise.

Keith woke suddenly. He was covered in a cold sweat, and was aware that he had been having a nightmare, but he couldn’t remember what it was. 

 

The room was still pitch black, but that didn’t stop him from seeing anymore. 

 

Lance’s arm was around Pidge next to him, and they both looked fine. He looked over at Hunk, who had been the most worried during the conversation earlier, and had been the last to go to sleep. Hunk looked fine too. 

 

Keith breathed slowly, trying to calm his racing heart. He knew that if he went back to sleep without being calm, he’d just wake up again, but still without being able to remember what he was so scared of. 

 

He didn’t agree with Shiro’s decision to stay out of the room, but he did understand it. If he had to deal with something, he’d rather do it where other people couldn’t watch. And Shiro seemed to have more nightmares anyway. 

 

Movement on his side drew his gaze. Lance was drawing Pidge towards himself, and he was frowning. Pidge shifted, and settled, but Lance was looking worse every minute. 

 

Keith got up carefully, and moved to the other side of Lance. He shook his shoulder lightly, then a little harder. 

 

Lance let out a gasp and his eyes opened, blown wide with fear. He tried to shove himself back away from Keith, but shoved Pidge, waking her up too. 

 

“Hey,” Keith said quietly, trying to imitate Shiro’s calming voice. “It’s all right. Just a dream.”

 

Lance clutched at his arm. “It didn’t-“

 

“What’s happening?” Pidge slurred, her hand searching around for her glasses instinctively. 

 

“We had bad dreams, it’s all right.” Keith said, still trying to do the calm voice. 

 

“You did too?” Lance whispered. 

 

Keith nodded, then, realizing that Lance might not be able to see that, said a quiet “yeah.”

 

“What was it about?” Lance asked. 

 

“Probably yesterday.”

 

“Mine too. I was… I was shooting them, you know? But, in my dream, it didn’t work, I missed, and they killed all the hostages, and then they were coming for me and—“ Lance cut himself off, looking down at his lap. 

 

Pidge’s hand had found Lance’s, and held tight. Lance squeezed her hand. He let go of Keith’s sleeve and laid down. 

 

“I’m going back to bed.”

 

“You sure? Do you want me to get Hunk?” Keith said. 

 

Lance looked over at Hunk. “I don’t want to wake him up.”

 

“We can move over there.”

 

Lance’s eyes glinted in the darkness as he nodded. 

 

Keith helped move them and their bedding over near Hunk. 

 

Soon they were all asleep, and no one, as far as Keith knew, woke up anymore that night. 

  
  


——————————————————————

  
  


“Hunk!” Pidge yelled, running into the kitchen with her box. 

 

“What?”

 

“Look what Matt sent!” 

 

She plunked the box down on the counter and ripped it open to reveal several canisters. 

 

“What are they?” Hunk asked. 

 

“Flares and smoke signals. But Hunk, they’re colored!”

 

Hunk took in a deep breath, his eyes sparkling. “And you want to—“

 

“Yes!” Pidge interrupted, too excited and happy to wait for full sentences. 

 

“I’m in.”

 

“Can we get ready by tomorrow night, you think?”

 

Hunk nodded thoughtfully. “It’s possible, but I’ll need a very dedicated assistant.”

 

Pidge scoffed. “You doubt? We have two whole days with nothing to do, I’ll be by your side every minute.”

 

“Let’s make it a surprise.”

 

“Of course!” Pidge hopped up and down. “I can’t wait!”

  
  


—————————————————————

  
  


Lance glowed, his eyes seeking out Shiro’s, longing for approval. He and Keith had just finished showing Shiro how they had figured out the group eight simulation. 

 

“Well done. You two make a good team.”

 

Keith, still panting, grinned so proudly.

 

“I’m proud to see that you’ve put aside your differences to work together like this.”

 

“We didn’t put them aside. We used them to our advantage.” Keith said, always too literal. 

 

Shiro nodded. “Have you tried any other simulations like this?”

 

“Not yet. We just did seven and eight.” Lance said. 

 

“I’d like to see you try nine.” Shiro said. 

 

Keith lit up. He looked at Lance. 

 

“Alright!” Lance said. “Let’s run it.”

  
  


———————————————————————

  
  


Pidge was carrying a box of chemicals, trying to be stealthy, and not entirely succeeding. She had gotten them from the supply room next to the med bay, carefully checking the labels to be sure she was getting what Hunk needed. 

 

About to pass her, and not paying her any attention whatsoever, was Shiro and Lance, carrying Keith between them. Keith’s face was contorted into a weird grimace, half grin, half pain, and he had a hand pressed to his side. 

 

“That was still awesome.” Lance was saying. 

 

“It defeated all three of us!” Shiro protested. 

 

“I’d do it again.” Keith said. 

 

“You’re injured, you don’t get to say anything.” Shiro retorted. 

 

“What happened?” Pidge asked, even at the risk of drawing attention to her and her box. 

 

“We made it to group level ten!” Keith said, his voice strained, but no less happy. 

 

“Yeah, but Keith got stabbed, so we’re taking him to the pods.” Lance added. 

 

Pidge nodded. “That’s impressive.”

 

“Yes, but we need to get to the pods quickly.” Shiro said, moving them past her. 

 

“Get better, Keith!” Pidge yelled after them. 

 

“Yeah!” He yelled back, cutting it off with a grunt, as it must have aggravated his stab wound. 

 

Pidge walked on. 

  
  


———————————————————————

  
  


Hunk now had all of the supplies collected. Now he just had to remember how to do everything correctly, so he didn’t blow up. 

 

He was working in the yellow lion’s hangar. It seemed to him the least likely to take any damage if he did blow something up, and no one else should be coming in to surprise him. 

 

“Now, if I can just remember how to do the spray…” 

 

He did enjoy talking to Yellow, but, talking with no response kind of… it hurt. Especially when he knew that she could respond if she cared to. And even more especially after both Pidge and Shiro had deepened their bonds so much. 

 

He finished the first one, just a small thing, barely more than a smoke bomb. It was yellow, and he decided to set it off as a test. If he had made a mistake, he’d rather know now than later. 

 

“Here, girl, this one's for you.”

 

He lit the end and backed away behind Yellow’s paw. 

 

It streamed up about fifteen feet, and curved back down, trailing yellow smoke. 

 

It wasn’t much in the way of fireworks, but it was good for a start. 

 

“What do you think?” 

 

He didn’t hear anything, but he could suddenly feel pleasure and amusement, far more than his own. A thrill ran through him, excitement at having finally been answered. He could feel the bond between himself and Yellow, and could feel the thrill trace through it to her, and her answering excitement. 

 

“Is  _ this  _ how you talk?” He asked. “It’s so different! This is nothing like what Pidge and Shiro described.”

 

Yellow sent back pleasure with a tinge of pride. 

 

“Why didn’t you ever respond before?”

 

She sent him an emotion, much too confused for him to ever be able to name, but, it made sense somehow. It satisfied his question, though it didn’t really answer it. 

 

“Alright. Well, did you like the firework then?”

 

Happiness radiated from her, and also, though he never heard a word, he understood that it was the gift she liked, not the firework. 

 

Hunk smiled, and patted her paw. “In that case, I’ll try to make you more presents. Can you eat?”

 

Hunk felt a sad, pouting sort of feeling, and surmised that she could not, in fact, eat. 

 

“What kind of presents should I give you then?”

 

This time, Hunk didn’t understand at all what she was trying to get across. But he was still so happy that she was trying to, he almost didn’t care. 

 

He sat down to keep working on his fireworks, and kept asking questions. 

 

“So what if I tried to upgrade you, like Pidge does with Green? Would that count as a gift?”

 

That seemed to be a no. 

 

“Well, Shiro helped Black, and spends time with her. What about that?”

 

It was also a no, but not as definitive as the last. 

 

“So which did you kind of want, the spending time? I hope it’s time. I’d have a hard time fighting a lot.” Hunk gasped. “You aren’t under any kind of mind attack are you?!”

 

No. She was not. But she did enjoy spending time. 

 

“That’s good. I’d have no idea how to help if you were.”

 

Hunk finished another firework and set it aside. “So, gifts… I don’t know, I’ll have to keep thinking about it. But, I’m really glad I found a way to get through to you, girl.”

 

Warmth flooded through through their link. Hunk smiled.

  
  


____________________________________________________

  
  
  


It was the last day. Tonight, Hunk would set off his fireworks, and tomorrow, they’d have to get back to work. 

 

Pidge was bored. Lance, Keith, and Shiro were all practicing their ‘amazing new combo’, and Hunk was still working on fireworks. Coran and Allura were off doing alien things, and she was boooooored.

 

Maybe she’d go hang out with Kolom--no. No. Nope. Marou was in there.

 

But she did want to see Dak. He was cute and cuddly, and always made her feel better. 

 

Besides, she knew well exactly where Marou was. Seeing him shouldn’t make that big a difference. 

 

Her gut twisted. 

 

A small, niggly thing crept up into the back of her mind. A question. 

 

Wasn’t she being a coward?

 

And if she was… Voltron didn’t need a coward for a paladin. She couldn’t be a coward. Anything a Holt did reflected on all the Holts. The same probably applied to Voltron. She couldn’t do that to them. 

 

How could she reassure the planet that she would keep fighting the Galra if she couldn’t even look one of them in the face?

 

No. She wouldn’t. She was not going to indulge this weakness any longer. 

 

She got up and started downstairs. She made it to the door without encountering anyone. For a brief moment she hesitated, then slammed her hand on the scanner. 

 

The door hissed open, revealing Kolom and Shiro, sitting on the floor and talking together. Shiro turned to her as she stepped inside. 

 

“Pidge? Are you all right? You look… stressed.”

 

Pidge nodded and sat down next to them. “I’m fine. I thought you were training?”

 

“I was a while ago, but we finished.”

 

Kolom was eyeing Pidge. “It’s Marou, isn’t it?”

 

“What is?” Came a voice from inside a closed bunk. 

 

“Shut up,” Kolom yelled back at him. “It’s alright,” she said to Pidge. “I won’t let him out of you don’t want to see him.”

 

Pidge nodded. Her resolution came up in front of her mind’s eye, but, at the same time, she’d much rather just sit and talk with Kolom and Shiro. 

 

“So what were you talking about?” She asked. 

 

Shiro, though she could see that he hadn’t let go of the subject of Marou, nodded across the barrier. “What to do about him.”

 

Pidge looked over. The Galra looked to be asleep, or maybe unconscious. The room, the barrier in particular, was smeared in blood. The Galra had a decent amount of blood on himself as well. 

 

“I was suggesting we shove Marou over. I don’t think he’ll be killed, but if he is we haven’t lost much, and if he isn’t he might be able to convince that barbarian to calm down.”

 

“We’re not going to chance Marou dying for that.” Shiro said. 

 

“Thank you!” Marou said from inside his bunk. 

 

“What if we power up his hover board? We can send him over high above the other’s head, and he might be able to talk him down while out of reach.”

 

“I don’t think it will go that high,” Marou offered. 

 

“Will you shut up? This isn’t your conversation.” Kolom snapped. 

 

Pidge knew Kolom was trying to help her, but Shiro wasn’t liking it. She tried to change the topic. “Where’s Dak?”

 

“He’s with me,” Marou said. 

 

Kolom glared in the direction of the bunk. Pidge was flattered that Kolom would get this angry trying to help her, but at the same time, she couldn’t just let her. Kolom was very capable of hurting Marou, and if she did at this point, it’d be kind of Pidge’s fault. 

 

“Why don’t we… let them out?” Pidge said, slowly and carefully. 

 

Kolom raised an eyebrow in an ‘are you sure?’, but Shiro smiled at her proudly. After Pide didn’t change her mind, Kolom got up and opened the bunk. 

 

Both Marou and Dak tumbled out in much the same way. 

 

Pidge held out her arms to Dak, and after a quick hug for his mother, he toddled over to her. Dak was such a cuddly baby, and Pidge loved that about him. 

 

Marou army-crawled over to their group, and spent some time arranging himself into a normal sitting position. 

 

“You know, even if it won’t do what you’d hoped, I’d still really enjoy getting my hover board back.”

 

He was not the same as Pidge had remembered. He was skinnier, and the wrinkles on his face were more pronounced. And without the hover pad to raise him up, he seemed even smaller. 

 

Pidge mentally checked out of the conversation, petting Dak, and trying to process. It wasn’t as bad, seeing Marou, as she had imagined, but it wasn’t pleasant. She was taken back to scary times. Not knowing if she would die or not. Keith’s changes. Being studied like… like something not human. 

 

Dak gave a grunt of protest and squirmed out of her suddenly too tight grip. 

 

“Sorry, Dak.”

 

Dak, an arm’s length away, grinned. 

 

“Tell her what you learned, kit. Say ‘hello!’ Hello!” Marou said in a baby voice, something Pidge would never have expected him to be able to do. 

 

Kolom got in on it too, waving at Dak. “Hello! Hello, Dak!”

 

Dak toddled toward his mother, waving. “Heyyo.”

 

Kolom scooped him up and covered him with kisses. “Good job! Good job, Dak!”

 

Marou clapped for Dak, and so did Pidge and Shiro, sending back happy smiles when he looked at them. 

 

“He had to be so quiet in the prison, so I didn’t dare teach him any words, but now, now you get to learn lots and lots.” Kolom said. She said something else to Dak in Galran. Pidge didn’t know what it was, but Dak giggled adorably. 

 

Pidge leaned back, and caught movement in the corner of her eye. She glanced over, to see the other Galra getting up slowly. He saw her, and snarled. She kept a steady gaze, not looking away, even as he ran at the partition and pounded it with his fist. 

 

He glared at her, but he wasn’t throwing himself against the walls or anything. 

 

He was saying something, but the partition was mostly soundproof, so she didn’t know what it was. 

 

Beside her, Kolom scoffed, and mouthed something back at the other Galra, made complete by the use of a few choice gestures. 

 

Dak was now sitting in Shiro’s lap. Shiro was trying to project an air of competence, but he was sitting so perfectly still, everything below his neck frozen into place, it was clear he had no idea what he was doing. Dak sneezed, and wiped his face on Shiro’s sleeve. Then he crawled off to Marou and patted his hand. 

 

Marou smiles at Dak, pulled something that looked like a nut out of his pocket and handed it to Dak. Dak popped it in his mouth, and then toddled over to Kolom, patting her too. Kolom handed him one from her pocket. 

 

“I’ve seen Keith eat those. What are they?” Shiro asked. 

 

“Mostly meat.” Kolom said. 

 

“Dried, and compressed, with a savory coating.” Marou added, popping one into his mouth. 

 

“What kind of meat?” Shiro asked. 

 

Kolom shrugged. “Does it matter?”

 

“Traditionally, they’ve been made of Xinc, an animal from Daibazaal, which was exported as a pet, and then, after the destruction of the planet, bred for meat again. However, at this point in time, they could be made of anything, and just flavored.” Marou said. “It’s a shame.”

 

Kolom nodded. “At least they still taste good.”

 

“Can I try one?” Pidge asked. 

 

Kolom tossed one to her. It was almost almond-shaped, but heavier. Pidge put it into her mouth. The outside was salty, and a bit spicy. She rolled it around a few times and then bit into it. Immediately she regretted it. It tasted like dark meat, but much stronger, and rather bloody. She only barely managed to swallow it. 

 

Kolom laughed at her. “Not your favorite?”

 

Pidge shook her head and went to the bathroom to wash out her mouth. 

 

When she got back, Shiro went to the bathroom also. Kolom was laughing even harder. 

 

“Why didn’t you like it?” Marou asked earnestly. 

 

It was a question meant to gather information. It was even the same inflection as before. Pidge didn’t answer him. 

 

“I’ll trade you something for it. Truth for truth.”

 

Pidge turned away from him, gritting her teeth. 

 

Marou’s voice changed, much less scientist and much more human, if human could be applied to someone not at all human. “You know you aren’t back there anymore. The situation has reversed. You have the power here. There’s no reason for you not to answer.”

 

Pidge turned back to see Kolom knock him in the back of his head. 

 

“It’s not reversed though. You still are getting a store of knowledge about me. Waiting until it’s large enough for you to act on.”

 

Marou rubbed his head. “How very intelligent of you. You’re right. But the only reason is that you would do the same, and you know it. It’s how you escaped the arena, surviving until you had enough information to act. So you know my mind won’t let me do otherwise.”

 

Pidge nodded, scowling at him. “I hate that we’re similar. But at least I know better than to answer you.”

 

Marou shrugged. “We don’t have to be enemies, you know. Even if I am saving information to act on, there’s no reason why I would have to act against you. There’s no reason for me to go back to the Galra.”

 

“That’s a lie. You have enough information about us already, if you got back to them they’d reward you plenty.”

 

“With what? With money? Power? What do I want with that?”

 

Pidge bristled. She didn’t know what he might want, ultimately, but she wasn’t going to relinquish her position that easily. 

 

Shiro set a hand on her shoulder. “How about we head back upstairs. It’s almost dinner time.”

 

Pidge let herself be led out. 

 

“Are you alright?” Shiro asked, his voice soft and soothing. 

 

Pidge nodded, walking more closely to him. “It’s hard sometimes.”

 

Shiro gave a soft, rumbly hum. “Would a hug help?”

 

Pidge nodded, and Shiro wrapped her in a hug, not letting go before she did. 

  
  


——————————————————————

  
  


“And now, the reason I have called you all here, dedicated to the Yellow Lion for her help in making and inspiring, and to Pidge and Matt for providing the crucial ingredients, I present, fireworks!” 

 

Lance rushed forward as Hunk whipped a cloth off of a table. The fireworks weren’t brightly colored or fancy, mostly spheres and cylinders of gray, with fuses sticking out. 

 

Hunk stood, puffed up with pride, allowing them to observe his creations for a moment, before shooing them back behind an energy field, provided by Yellow. 

 

He started the show with a sphere. Once lit, he held it in his hand until it began to spray red smoke, then threw it up in the air. It left red in a large arc, before finishing with a loud pop, though without the spray of sparkles fireworks on earth would have had. 

 

There were a few more of these, and a few rockets, with more or less success at spraying sparks. The lions hangar now smelled of smoke, familiar in a way that made Lance long for home. For family parties, smushed together in the dark, waiting for the fireworks to light up the sky. His brother in his lap, arching his back to absorb more heat, gasping at the one that looked like fishes. His cousin covering her ears against the shriek of the rockets. His mother behind him, stroking her hand through his hair and calling out encouragement to his father, who was lighting the fireworks. 

 

Then Hunk called for the grand finale. He gave Shiro a stick, covered with lumps of several colors, and lit the end. It burned far too brightly and crazily to ever be given to a child, but it really was very much like a sparkler. A much larger sparkler, which burned with the colors of Voltron. 

 

Shiro was flattered to get to hold it. Although really, he was the only one who could have. His Galra arm was covered with sparks, and near the end of the stick there was a pop, and flaming bits of wood sprayed out. Hunk helped stomp some of them out once the sparkler had ended. 

 

They all helped to sweep up the ash and bits of spent firework. Once it was clean Lance sought out Hunk for a hug. 

 

“That was really special. Thanks.”

 

Hunk hugged him back. “Homesick?”

 

Lance nodded against his chest. 

 

“Do you wanna talk about it, or do you want a distraction?”

 

Lance thought about it a bit. “A distraction.”

 

“Come on then. I’m going to see what to make for breakfast tomorrow. You can keep me company and I’ll tell you all about how I made the fireworks. Sound good?”

 

Lance nodded. “Thanks.”

 

An hour later Hunk had set up everything he would need to make a quick, tasty breakfast the next day, and he had told Lance everything he could about fireworks. But Lance didn’t feel much better. 

 

“I think, can I talk about it now?” Lance asked, sitting at the table in the kitchen. 

 

Hunk sat down next to him and handed him a steaming cup. “Yeah, that’s fine.”

 

“It’s just, I used to watch fireworks with my family. We didn’t have many ever, but we would set them up so that behind ours we could see the ones other people were setting off. It was like getting a really great fireworks show, even if they weren’t all ours. I guess I just, miss them a lot.”

 

“We’ll get back to them.” Hunk rested a heavy hand, warm from holding his cup, on Lance’s shoulder. 

 

“We won’t though! We—“ Lance’s voice failed him, and he looked away. 

 

“We might not get back. And even if we do, it’ll be years at least.” He took a sip of his drink, letting its sweetness sit on his tongue a while before swallowing. “At least Pidge got to see some of her family.”

 

Hunk took his hand back. “Stop it. That’s not fair and you know it. Would you even want to see Marco if you had to find him that way?”

 

Lance looked away again. 

 

Hunk was right. He knew it, even if he didn’t like it. He shook his head. 

 

“We will get back. And until then, we’ll keep them safe.”

 

“I know. But it doesn’t feel like it. If we were protecting Jupiter or something, I could at least feel I was helping them.”

 

“It’s just as much help here. More, since Jupiter isn’t actually under attack.”

 

Lance smiled wanly. “My head knows that.”

 

“Then find something out here to protect. Give your heart a good reason to keep going.”

 

Lance nodded. He took another sip from his cup. 

 

Hunk stood up, patting him on the back. “I’m heading to bed. Big day tomorrow.”

 

“Yeah, see you soon.”

  
  


————————————————————

  
  


Allura had insisted on formal wear, since it was ‘an entirely diplomatic conversation’ that they were going to have. Which meant that Pidge had been forced into a dress. She had negotiated to a simpler one than Allura’s first option, but that didn’t mean that she liked it. 

 

It was green, darker than the green lion’s green, and supple like silk. It showed off what little form Pidge had, while still looking modest with its long sleeves and high neckline. It had been much too long, but Allura had tied and folded it with a gold sash and managed to make it ankle-length. 

 

Then Allura also tried to ruin Pidge’s hair. 

 

“No! I’ve already let you dress me up like a doll, I’m not letting you touch my hair!”

 

Pidge heard a sound from outside. “Help! Whoever’s out there, help me!”

 

Lance burst in, also dressed fancily, bayard in hand. “What happened?!”

 

Pidge hid behind him. “Allura’s trying to wreck my hair.”

 

“Oh.” Lance breathed a sigh of relief. “What’s she trying to do?”

 

Allura explained to Lance, who didn’t understand any better than Pidge had. 

 

“How about this, you let Allura do it first, and then we’ll look in a mirror. If you don’t like it, we’ll take it out. Sound good?”

 

Pidge poked out her lip. “I guess.”

 

Reluctantly, she sat on the stool. 

 

“Your dress looks very good on you.” Lance said, with only a trace of his usual flirtyness. 

 

Pidge blushed slightly at his sincerity. “Thanks.”

 

Allura came back with her implements of torture, and started with dousing Pidge’s head with something. 

 

“That smells good. What is it?” Lance said, watching without a bit of sympathy as Allura started combing Pidge’s hair. 

 

“It’s called Phryss. It keeps hair smooth and in place.”

 

Lance nodded. 

 

Allura used the comb to separate Pidge’s bangs from her hair, and gathered the hair at the nape of her neck. She put what felt like a super wide clip in it, and then stuck pins in all around it. She combed Pidge’s bangs until they lay down a bit more than normal, and then stepped back to admire her work. 

 

Lance admired it too, but admired Allura herself more. “It looks fantastic, princess!”

 

“I want to see.” Pidge said, sliding off the stool and walking to the mirror. 

 

Her hair was very smooth and soft looking, not at all poofy like normal. The bulk of it was smoothed back into the clip, which fit against her hairline at her neck, almost reaching her ears. It wasn’t in a ponytail or anything either. It must be tucked under or something. It wasn’t terrible. 

 

“I’ll let it stay.”

 

“Wonderful! I’ll get you some earrings and then we’ll be ready. Are all the men done, Lance?”

 

Lance, for no reason at all, blushed. “Yeah, we’re  all done. Shiro and Keith are in the pod already.”

 

Allura held up two gems to Pidge’s ears, very similar to her own, only yellow. She held them to Pidge’s earlobes, counted down from ten, and then let go. Pidge felt an odd tugging feeling. She looked in the mirror to find her earrings hanging as perfectly as Allura’s, despite not holding onto anything. She slipped her finger into the empty space, but the earring didn’t fall. 

 

“I’ll help you get them off this evening,” Allura promised. “Let’s go.”

 

So they went down to the secondary hangar, where there were quite a few pods, and got into one of the fancy looking ones, where Shiro and Keith were waiting. 


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Haggar is introduced to the story. 
> 
> Once on Zhyrgg, things don’t go as smoothly as hoped. 
> 
> (Mostly because the author was plagued by plot bunnies)

“No! Leave all of those alone! They’re fake, meant to throw us off the scent.”

 

“Then where—“

 

Haggar cut him off. His thoughts were less than useless anyway. “They’re cowards. Hiding.” She scanned the map again. 

 

“Could—“

 

“Check these areas. Thoroughly. I’ll send a few druids with you to be sure. This planet is suspicious, and this area here. Check our borders.”

 

“The borders of the whole empire?”

 

“What other borders could I be talking about?”

 

“They’re… large.”

 

“Was I unclear?”

 

“No. Vrepit sa.”

 

Haggar nodded. She had other methods, that she would certainly use, but sometimes the simplest worked. And this commander certainly was simple. 

  
  


—————————————————————-

  
  


Shiro stood up as Keith landed the pod. There was a large assembly of the planets citizens waiting. Zhyrgg-ians? Whatever they were called as a group, they didn’t look happy. Usually, looking out on a crowd waiting for Voltron, he could see awe, wonder, excitement. Now there was only a tense silence. 

 

He led the others in leaving the pod. 

 

Allura stepped forward to greet the man coming to meet them. 

 

“Thank you for having us on your planet,” she said brightly. 

 

A lightning fast expression crossed his face, but he took the hand she offered. “Yes. Please come inside. We have much to discuss.”

 

The walk inside was eerily quiet. Not a single voice was heard. No giggles of girls responding to the brilliant smiles Lance was flashing. No explanations of architecture or customs. No greetings. No curious people wondering aloud. Not even a baby crying. 

 

They were sat down at a table nowhere near as fancy as those in the castle. 

 

The leader cleared his throat nervously. “My name is Zeg. What I, what Zhrygg, wishes to know, is what your intentions are with us.”

 

Allura looked at him. As leader, it made sense he should state the intentions of the group. 

 

“We don’t have intentions of doing anything to you.”

 

Zeg coughed. “Kindly do me the respect of not lying to my face. I’ll try to be more plain. Do you intend to do to Zhyrgg as you did to Elis?”

 

“Would that be a problem?” Allura asked. “We’d be offering you protection from the most dangerous people in the universe, people you’ve already had difficult with.”

 

“You see…” Zeg coughed again and rubbed the back of his neck. “Yes.” He ducked his head, as if he expected to have something thrown at him. 

 

“Can you explain this to us?” Lance asked, in a softer voice Shiro had rarely heard him use. “We came in believing that we were doing right, but clearly we have been mistaken somewhere.”

 

“Well, you see, we didn’t exactly, um, mind having the Galra here?”

 

“What?!” Keith and Allura burst out in unison. 

 

“They’ve taken over your planet, enslaved your people, stole anything of value. How could you not ‘mind having them here’?” Allura said. 

 

“Well, it’s been a hundred years…”

 

“Yes, one hundred years for them to continue in their crimes.” Allura said acridly. 

 

“Let him speak,” Hunk said. 

 

Allura shot him a dirty look, and Hunk sat back. 

 

Zeg wrung his hands together, looking at each paladin in turn. 

 

“Please continue,” Shiro offered. 

 

Zeg nodded. “Well, at first, we hated it. No one liked that we had been taken over. But after a while, when things settled down, and the Galra didn’t have anything else they wanted, we had a few… unexpected births. To calm the people, my grandfather proclaimed that the Galra could be intermarried with. After that, people began to get attached.” Zeg swallowed heavily. “So when you came, it wasn’t just soldiers you were killing, it’s was husbands, fathers, even some wives and mothers. It was, quite a shock to us.”

 

Shiro glanced away from Zeg to see how the others were taking the news. Hunk looked like he was going to be sick. Pidge was staring down into her lap, her bangs hiding her face. Keith and Lance both had smooth masks on, not showing their thoughts. Allura, however, looked horrified. 

 

“They used you as living shields,” Keith said. His voice ran deeply with some strong emotion, but he still spoke quietly. 

 

Zeg nodded. “They are still soldiers, still Galra. They have protocols we would not. The hostages were not going to be slaughtered wholesale, though. They were intended to get you to leave, to judge the collateral damage too great.”

 

“They still used you. They used you for whatever they wanted, and there wasn’t any real way you could have fought back.” Allura said, her voice a bit calmer, even if she wasn’t herself. 

 

“That is true. We are a weak people. Which is why we wanted to know what you intend to do.”

 

“What is it you were hoping we would do?” Lance asked. 

 

Zeg tipped his head to the side, his eyes wide with surprise. “W-well, we uh, we had hoped that, you might comply with our customs concerning death through combat, and then you would leave.”

 

Lance nodded slowly. He looked to Shiro. 

 

Shiro didn’t know what he was asking, but Lance had so far conducted himself better than any of the rest of them, so Shiro decided to trust his judgement in this. He nodded back at Lance, giving him the go-ahead. 

 

“We can’t just leave, as you wanted. We are trying to defeat the Galra Empire, and in that endeavor this planet may well be crucial to us. We intend to give you the technology and resources you need to keep the Galra away from your planet. We want you to try to hold the planet, away and separate from the Galra. We will not go on a hunt of the remaining Galra so long as you can promise that they will not contact the Empire.” Lance paused. “However, we do intend to follow your customs while we’re here, and after we finish we will all leave you in peace.”

 

Zeg nodded. “I must talk about this with my people before I give you an answer.”

 

“That’s fine,” Shiro said. “We’ll wait.”

 

Zeg stood up and pushed his chair away from the table. “I will send in attendants. Are you hungry? Thirsty?”

 

Hunk nodded. 

 

Zeg left the room, and moments later food and drink was brought. 

  
  


————————————————————

  
  


“I just feel like we way overdressed,” Pidge said, fidgeting in her chair. Similar to Zeg, all the attendants were nervous around them, and not a single person she had seen had even approached her level of dress, which was more casual than any of the other paladins. 

 

“I agree.” Keith said, unbuttoning his high collar. “We overdid several things.”

 

“I don’t quite understand it,” Allura said. “One would think that after requesting three days to prepare, we’d be received more formally.”

 

“The three days were to bury their dead!” Keith spat. “Altea was never in a real war before the Galra, were they?”

 

“Keith!” Shiro said sharply. 

 

Keith turned away. Allura paled with rage and left the room. 

 

Lance came back in, just as Allura was leaving, so downcast he didn’t even notice how anagram she was. 

 

“They’re all afraid of us.” He sat down next to Hunk. “I’ve never had someone I wanted to like me be so afraid of me. And they have good reason! I probably killed someone in their family.”

 

Hunk set a hand on his back, but didn’t say anything. What could he say? Lance was right. 

 

Suddenly there was a clatter from outside the room, and several muffled voices. A boy burst into the room, heading straight for Keith. 

 

“He said you’d honor our traditions!”

 

Keith, taken aback by this sudden appearance, only nodded. 

 

Attendants ran into the room, trying to pull the boy out, and apologizing for his behavior. 

 

“No! No, he said he would do it! He accepted!”

 

“You accepted?” The attendant said, letting go of the boy. 

 

“I said I’d honor your traditions,” Keith answered. 

 

“That’s not accepting!” The attendant hissed at the boy, trying again to drag him out of the room. 

 

“Can we all sit down and figure out what’s going on?” Shiro suggested. 

 

“According to our traditions, if a man is killed in a dispute over something material, his kin may challenge his killer to a duel. If the killer wins, he may keep whatever it was he wanted. If the challenger wins, the killer’s claim is forfeit.” One of the attendants said. 

 

“You killed my father!” The boy burst out, still trying to get away. “I challenge you!”

 

“How is the duel won?” Keith asked. 

 

“Death or submission.” One of the attendants offered. 

 

“So I have to either kill him or make him admit that I was right to take over his planet? No.”

 

“Coward!”

 

Finally, the attendants got a good hold on the boy and took him out of the room, still kicking and yelling at Keith. 

 

Zeg came in, looking over at the boy with a frown. “What happened?”

 

“He challenged Keith to a fight, and Keith didn’t accept.” Pidge said. 

 

“What kind of fight?”

 

The attendants returned and one of them explained to Zeg what had happened. 

 

Zeg sat down at the table. “I see. Well, I’ve come to tell you that we have accepted your offer, provided you actually comply with our customs as you said. There is a book you ought to read, and we have sent a copy to your ship. That being said, you cannot refuse a duel of this nature.”

 

“I’m not going to kill some little kid!” Keith said.  

 

Zeg nodded slowly. “I understand your hesitation. I ought to have better insured that he was unable to issue the challenge. However, this is not something that can be easily refused. Not if you want to adhere to our customs.”

 

“Not easily is different from impossible,” Shiro said. “How can Keith back out of this?”

 

Zeg ticked things off on his hands. “If he holds himself outside of our laws, if he can be reasonable assumed to die within the year, if he were related to Kerchik—“

 

“Kerchik?” Pidge asked, remembering that Zeg had used that name before. 

 

“Not real Kerchik, Kerchik the boy.” Zeg replied. 

 

“Who’s real Kerchik?” Pidge asked. 

 

“Kerchik is the god of chance. The boy who challenged your teammate was named after him.”

 

“Are those the only exceptions?” Shiro asked, pulling the conversation back on track. 

 

Zeg thought for a moment, and then nodded. “I believe so. We can also postpone the duel for up to a week if it in necessary.”

 

“Please do.” Shiro said. “Is there anything else we ought to know?”

 

Zeg shook his head. “I will advise my people not to issue any more challenges. Everything else will be fine until you’ve read the book I sent you.”

 

“Can we keep the copy?” Pidge asked. 

 

A flash of resistance crossed Zeg’s face, but he nodded. 

 

“What if I made a copy and then gave you the book back?” Pidge suggested, not wanting to take something she shouldn’t. 

 

Zeg visibly relaxed. “That would be ideal.”

  
  


—————————————————————

  
  


Keith had finished skimming the book. It wasn’t all that long, but it wasn’t very short either. It seemed Zeg was right, there were only three ways, at least according to this book of law, that he could avoid the duel. 

 

He couldn’t say that he wasn’t bound by their law, not just after he had just said that he would abide by it. He didn’t intend on dying anytime soon. And he wasn’t related to Kerchik. 

 

He crossed his arms and frowned, trying really hard to think of anything else that would help. 

 

“Maybe you can talk to the kid.” Pidge said, setting down her tablet. “If he had a different reason, and you can fulfil that easier, he might agree to throw the match.”

 

Keith’s frown deepened. “I killed his father. He must have seen me do it to single me out. What other thing could I do for him?”

 

“I don’t know, but if it’s possible there is something, it’d save a lot.”

 

“Pidge, I  _ killed _ his  _ father _ .”

 

“Yeah, you did, so why would he want you to kill him too? Unless he’s hiding some amazing skill, he’s got to know that you’re much more powerful than him, and that you’ve killed before. Looking at these laws, these people are almost entirely pacifist. There’s no way it’s just a simple revenge in his mind.”

 

Keith stood up and walked around, thinking. 

 

“Stop pacing and go find the kid.”

 

“What am I even supposed to say?! Hi, I know I killed your dad in front of you, but I don’t think that’s why you want to fight me so what’s up?”

 

“I don’t know. I’d offer to come with you, but Allura wants me to go do something with her in half an hour.”

 

“No you wouldn’t.” Keith muttered, low enough Pidge wouldn’t be able to hear. 

 

Pidge suddenly gasped, a horrified look on her face. “Keith! You’d doubt my devotion to you?! Our undying bond as paladins! How could you?!” 

 

Against his will, a chuckle slipped out of Keith’s mouth. 

 

“After all this time!” Pidge continued, in a perfectly plaintive voice. “We’ve gone through so much. We’ve shared a bed. I thought we bonded!” So saying, she threw herself at Keith’s feet in a fake swoon. 

 

Keith chuckled, even after she grabbed his ankle and tried to pull him down too. 

 

“Go on, you can do it,” she said, swatting at his calf. 

 

“Fine, but only ‘cause we bonded!” Keith answered, trying, not entirely successfully, to imitate her voice. 

  
  


——————————————————————-

  
  


“I did challenge him!”

 

“There were is he?” 

 

“They said it had to be postponed.” Kerchik mumbled. 

 

“I don’t believe it. And I won’t believe until I see the fight.”

 

“You just want to see me dead.”

 

“How dare you suggest I want anything other than your father to be avenged?!”

 

“Then why don’t you fight?”

 

“You expect me to show my face? Now? After all the Galra soldiers were just killed?”

 

“I’m half Galra too.”

 

“Yeah, but you don’t look it. You’re the best person to do this. Even your mother said so.”

 

“I don’t know that.”

 

“Didn’t I just tell you so? Are you calling me a liar?”

 

Kerchik looked away. “Where is she?”

 

“At my house.”

 

“Where even is your house, though?”

 

“I’m sure your mother taught you better manners, Kerchik. Besides, she doesn’t want to see you right now. You’re too much like your father was.”

 

Kerchik grimaced. “I wish he’d kicked you harder that first time we saw you crawling around our house!”

 

A fist flew toward his face, faster than he could block. 

 

“I’ll see you later, Kerchik. I’ll even bring your mom to the party if you beat that guy.”

 

Kerchik released a string of expletives at the back of his mortal enemy as he walked away. 

 

He heard someone shout his name, and looked in the other direction to see Ezlaa, who he had previously thought was his friend, heading towards him and bringing the red paladin. 

  
  


——————————————————————-

  
  


At dinner, which was later than usual, Pidge saw Keith again. He was frowning deeply, which Pidge had learned to interpret as ‘lost in thought’. 

 

“So how’d it go? Did you find the kid?”

 

Keith nodded. 

 

“What happened?”

 

Keith’s frown deepened, looking like it would seep down into his bowl. “You were right. It’s a lot, and it’s a secret.”

 

“Oh. Can you work it out?”

 

Keith didn’t respond at first, but then gave a hesitant nod. 

 

“What’s going on?” Lance asked. 

 

Keith’s frown changed from thoughtful to annoyed. “I just said I can’t tell you!”

 

“Jeez, man, chill. I just asked.”

 

“So! How do you like dinner?” Hunk asked, a bit too loudly. 

 

Lance hesitated, unwilling to let the subject be changed. 

 

“It’s very good, Hunk.” Shiro said. “I especially like… this thing.”

 

“Oh! That’s a kind of vegetable they grow here. It’s a bit like a radish, but springier. Somehow most things in space are gooier and springier.”

 

Shiro nodded, but didn’t seem to have anything more to say. 

 

After that, the table lapsed into an awkward silence. Pidge ate quickly and excused herself. 

 

Tonight there was going to be a sort of ‘alien science fair’ as Lance had so aptly named it. Allura had set it up with Zeg. It was mostly for figuring out what kinds of things Pidge had to work with when she configured the shield, but she was just excited to see a bunch of alien tech. Of course, she’d have gotten to see more if they had given longer for the Zhyrggians to prepare, but Allura had decided that it would be best to move things along as quickly as possible, so they could leave the planet in peace. 

 

Allura, always Allura, it seemed, had instructed her to wear something a bit nicer. Not as fancy as the dress, but better than her earth clothes, and less militaristic than her paladin armor. So now she had to go find something that fit those requirements.

 

After thinking a bit, Pidge decided to entirely reject the clothes that Allura and Coran has filled her closet with. She wondered if there would be anything that might fit her in that big children’s closet they had found a while back. She was rather small, after all, and alien children seemed to always be big. Even if it was kid’s clothes, it was 10,000 years old, so unless she happened to pick something Zhyrggian, it probably wasn’t obvious. 

 

She wanted to bring Kolom, but the others seemed to be busy, and she wasn’t allowed to let her out without another paladin. She’d pick out something cute for Dak, though, and give it to Kolom as a present. 

 

Half an hour later, Pidge had outfitted herself, and found something that she hoped was Dak’s size. She decided to stop by Kolom’s room before she went to the science fair, which was still an hour and a half away. 

 

“What’s going on?” Kolom asked as soon as Pidge entered. 

 

“There’s a kind of science fair thing, and I had to dress up a little.”

 

“Not like that.” Kolom looked her up and down, then motioned for Pidge to hand her her jacket. She rolled it up and twisted it, then tied it around Pidge’s waist as if it was a thick belt. “Eh, it’s better. Not great though. You should’ve come to me first.”

 

Pidge looked down, not really seeing how it made the outfit better. “Thanks? I brought you this that I found.”

 

Kolom looked at the outfit. She shook her head. “This is awful. You should never ever give it back. It’s a shame to the castle just by being in it.” She held it up to Dak to make sure it would fit him. 

 

Pidge grinned. “I wish you could come with me. But Allura would flip out so bad.”

 

“Which one is Allura?” Marou asked. 

 

Both girls ignored him. 

 

Dak, released from his mother’s grip, toddled over to Pidge. “Heyyo!”

 

Pidge crouched down, smiling back at him. “Hello, Dak! You’re getting so good at that!”

 

Dak laughed and stuck out his hand. 

 

“Oh, he wants a treat for saying hello,” Kolom said, slipping one of the jerky-like things into Pidge’s hand. 

 

Pidge gave it to Dak. He smiled, showing off his baby teeth. “Heyyo!”

 

“Hello!” Pidge adored Dak. It was like having a nephew, only much cuter. 

 

Dak turned to Kolom, waving with his empty hand. “Heyyo!”

 

“Hello, kit.” Kolom gave him a jerky. “We’ve got to pick a new word to work on now.”

 

“Does he know mom yet?” Pidge asked. 

 

Kolom shook her head. “He won’t learn it if everyone calls me Kolom.”

 

“Well, I wouldn’t mind calling you that around him if you wanted him to learn it.”

 

Kolom thought about it for a minute. “Fine, call me Maman then.”

 

She said it just like Mama, but with a short, almost cut-off, n at the end. Pidge had learned that Altean had three n sounds. A long one, a normal one, like Coran’s, and a short one. She assumed that this was similar to the Altean short n, though, she was surprised that it was still so similar to English. 

 

“Ok. Dak, that’s your Maman.” Pidge pointed to Kolom. 

 

“Yes, I’m Maman.” Kolom said warmly, scooping up Dak and cuddling him to her chest. 

 

Pidge’s mind had been turning, winding around ever since she had come into the room. “Kolo-Maman.”

 

Kolom chuckled at her correction. “What?”

 

“If I— can you promise to stay close to me and not cause any trouble or anything if I take you with me? And it’d have to be a secret, or they’ll take my head off.”

 

Kolom sat down next to Pidge and let Dak down. “Listen, I understand my position. Even if it’s not my favorite, I can’t think of anywhere else in the universe where I’d be safer with Dak. If you were to take me with you, I wouldn’t do anything that would jeopardize that.”

 

Pidge smiled. “I just didn’t want to go alone, but everyone else has lots to do too, so I didn’t want to bother them.”

 

“I’d be happy to go with you.”

  
  


——————————————————————-

  
  


Later that evening, Kolom was following Pidge. At the moment Marou was watching Dak. They were probably fine, it wasn’t like Marou would hurt Dak, but he might let him hurt himself. Honestly, Kolom was getting a bit worried. 

 

Still, the worst case scenario was that somehow Dak would get up on the top bunk and fall off. He’d probably be fine. Marou would at least try to catch him, and even if he didn’t, Dak was a tough kit. 

 

Still, Kolom was worried. 

 

Pidge cried out in surprise, and ran ahead to see something in a booth. Kolom started to follow her, but the crowd seemed to thicken considerably, and she couldn’t get through. 

 

Someone grabbed her wrist. “What are you doing out in the open?!” They hissed. “Don’t you know that there’s a paladin just over there?”

 

“I do, and I’m trying to get to that paladin!” Kolom retorted. 

 

“No! You can’t do that! Not here, not now. Come with me.”

 

Kolom tried to pull her hand back, but there was a prick at her wrist, where the hooded person was holding it, and she felt very odd suddenly. 

 

“Come!” They insisted. 

 

Kolom, getting dizzier by the second, blindly followed as they pulled her along. 

 

They walked for… a time. Kolom wasn’t sure. The air cooled as they entered a building. There was a second prick on her wrist, and a man, Galra or mostly so, not the one who had brought her, slapped her in the face. 

 

She reflexively fell backward, and fell into a chair. Her dizziness fled away and her head cleared. 

 

She jumped up, “Where am I?!”

 

“Listen, I don’t know who you are, but I won’t have you doing something like this now. I have a network of people all depending on enacting the plan at the end of the movement, and I won’t have you messing it up now.”

 

“I don’t understand.”

 

The man sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. “The red paladin has been challenged to a duel, and it will take place the last day of this movement. Most of us are in hiding until then, then we’ll use the distraction of the duel to strike. If you try to kill a paladin before then by yourself, not only will you probably fail, but you’ll jeopardize our whole operation.”

 

“I haven’t heard about this,” Kolom said, sitting back down, and letting awe into her voice. “Can I join?”

 

The man smirked. “We’re always glad to have an extra hand.”

 

“How many of us are there?”

 

“There’s thirty-seven of us, and several Zhryggians in key positions who will help.”

 

“Wow. I had no idea! Thank you, for stopping me. I wouldn’t have wanted to pass up this chance for something like that. How can I help?”

 

“Do you have a house nearby?” The person who had brought her asked. 

 

Kolom shook her head. 

 

“Well, we could still use someone to keep in contact with everyone. It’s not nearly as satisfying a job as being picked for the front lines, and it’s more dangerous, since it’s likely they have all the common lines monitored, but it’s a necessary job.”

 

Kolom let her face fall. She was silent for a moment. “If it will ensure that my vengeance is carried out, I’ll do it.”

 

“Vrepit sa!” The man said. 

 

“Vrepit sa!” Kolom echoed. 

 

“I’ll get you set up.”

  
  


——————————————————————-

  
  


“Help me. Please, you have to help me, Keith!”

 

“What? What happened?!”

 

“I took Kolom with me to the science fair, and now I can’t find her.”

 

“What?”

 

“Please help me look for her. I don’t think she would’ve just left. Dak is still here.”

 

“Alright, I’ll help.”

  
  


—————————————————————

  
  


Kolom was in the basement of a house with another girl, probably only partly Galra. They had a list of names, and a list of different ways to contact them. Their job was to make sure everyone got their instructions, and that there were no problems. They received messages to relay and orders from the man who headed up the operation, a full Galra named Thaykt. 

  
  


——————————————————————-

  
  


“How long ago was this?” Allura asked. 

 

Pidge could see that she was seething, and trying really hard to stay calm. Shiro didn’t look angry, but he wasn’t on her side either. 

 

“At the science fair.”

 

“That was two days ago, Pidge!”

 

Pidge cringed back. 

 

“Why didn’t you tell us then?” Shiro asked. 

 

“Because, Dak is still here, I thought that even if she wouldn’t come back on her own, she’d come back for him. I really looked for her.” Pidge looked up at Shiro, hoping for… forgiveness? Or understanding. Or at least pity. 

 

But there was none. Shiro had mastered the disappointed dad face, which in any other situation would have been funny, but now just made her feel worse. 

 

Tears pricked at her eyes, and she tried really hard to keep her face still. 

 

“There’s any number of things she could do to hurt us!” Allura said. “And even if she doesn’t, she’s left us with a baby to take care of.”

 

“What really matters here, though, is that you directly disobeyed a rule. You knew of it, and knew how important it was, and broke it just because you wanted to.” Shiro said sternly. “I can’t just let that slide, Pidge.”

 

Pidge nodded. Her throat was really tight, but she managed to squeak out an “I’m sorry.” But that was it for her self control, and tears started slipping down her cheeks. 

 

“I don’t know what all I’m going to do about this, but for the moment I want you to go to your room, and you may not bring any tech with you.” Shiro said. 

 

Pidge nodded. Her cheeks flushed darkly as she had to walk past Keith and Lance. Hunk was still out trying to find Kolom. 

 

Once in the room she threw herself on the bed and let herself cry. She didn’t cry often, but she always seemed to cry if she really got in trouble. She hated it. It made a miserable, embarrassing situation even worse. 

  
  


——————————————————————

  
  


“You sure you want to do this? It may not work out.”

 

“Are you sure?”

 

Keith nodded. 

 

“Then I’m doing it.” Kerchik walked into the office. 

 

From there, it was as if they were hooked through the nose, and led around by it all day, but they did it. They were able to find, though not without difficulty, Kerchik’s mother and step father, and get them to sign the appropriate papers, aided by the social worker who was dragging them around. 

 

But they did it. It was finished. 

 

Keith was worried about how Shiro would take another big revelation so close to the other, but he couldn’t see any other way he could have done this. 

  
  


——————————————————————-

  
  


There was a knock on Shiro’s door. He opened it and Keith walked in stiffly. 

 

“What happened now?” He asked. 

 

Keith frowned. “Can you sit down?”

 

Shiro sat down. “What is it?”

 

“I—I um, adopted a child.”

 

If Shiro had been drinking water he would have sprayed his room with it. “You what?!”

 

“I adopted Kerchik.”

 

Shiro rubbed his hand over his face and pulled his hair up. “Why? How?”

 

“Well, it was either that or contract a deadly illness.”

 

“Is that supposed to be a joke? Cause it’s not very funny.”

 

Keith crosses his arms and chewed his lip. “When I figured out the rules of this duel, and all about it, Pidge suggested I go find Kerchik, the boy who challenged me. So I did, and I found that he’s got a messed up family, and his mom doesn’t want him and his step dad pretty much wants him dead, and it just, it isn’t very much like me, but it reminded me of me. And I remembered how much it meant to have you, even if you didn’t know what you were doing. And I know I’m not you, but I thought that maybe I could try to come close, and I couldn’t just leave him there like that.” Keith looked up at Shiro, seeking approval. 

 

Shiro slowly nodded. “It’s, it’s not a small thing that you did.”

 

“I know.”

 

“You’ll have to take care of him, and it won’t be easy. It’ll probably be harder for you than it was for me. You’ve got a universe on your shoulders, and, well, he saw you kill his dad. It’s not going to start out like we did.”

 

“I know. I was… hoping that you would help me. That everyone would.”

 

“Of course I’ll help, Keith. I’m always here for you. I’m sure the others will want to help too.”

 

Keith nodded. “Can you, help tell them?”

 

“I’ll be with you, behind you all the way, but this one you’ve got to do yourself. Want me to call a meeting?”

 

Keith nodded. “Thanks, Shiro. I know that this is a lot.”

 

Shiro chuckled dryly. “It sure is.”

 

Shiro’s tablet, set by the side of his bed, started singing repeatedly. He looked at Keith, who was just as curious, and picked it up. 

 

It was a video, sent to him over a private channel that Pidge had set up for the paladins. He tapped it. 

 

It was Kolom, sitting in a dark room, illuminated only by the light of whatever she was using to record. 

 

“I have information about a network of people angry at Voltron. They intend to stage an assassination. I know who it is, and when they intend to do it. I’ll give you this information, but I want something in return. I want to be able to come back to the castle and live there, not in a prison, not locked in. I want both me and Dak to be free to roam the castle. When you send your reply, send it tomorrow at exactly this time, if you send it at any other time it’ll blow my cover.”

 

Then the video ended. 

 

Shiro took in a deep breath. “Well, I guess we found her. I’ll call the meeting. You can introduce Kerchik, and we’ll talk about Kolom.”

  
  


——————————————————————-

  
  


It was evening, at least according to castle time, when Pidge was woken up by the opening of the door. She looked up to see who was coming in. 

 

Hunk gave her a soft smile and sat down next to her. “I heard what happened.”

 

Pidge groaned and hid her face in her pillow. “I don’t wanna talk about it.”

 

Hunk rubbed a hand on her back. “What if I made a late night snack for you? It’s too late for dinner now, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t eat.”

 

Pidge gave a loud hmph, without taking her face out of the pillow. 

 

The console on the wall buzzed, and Shiro’s voice came through. “I’d like everyone to come to the lounge, including Allura and Coran.”

 

Pidge sat up, not bothering to remove the pout from her face. “Is my face still all red?”

 

Hunk grimaced, “It’s a bit of a mess.”

 

“You go ahead. I’ll wash up and be there in a minute.”

 

Thankfully, Pidge was not the last one to enter the lounge, Coran was. 

 

When he had taken a seat, Shiro set a hand on Keith’s arm. “To start, Keith has someone he’d like you all to meet. And I’ll say now, I want you all to treat this with the gravity it deserves.”

 

Shiro let go of Keith, and he left the room. 

 

“What, did Mullet get a girlfriend?” Lance whispered. 

 

Keith only went into the hallway, where he spoke very quietly with someone, and then came back. Following him was the same boy who had challenged him to a duel. 

 

“This is Kerchik. I adopted him.”

 

“You what!?!” Lance burst out. 

 

Kerchik stared at the floor, blushing. 

 

Even Hunk didn’t really know what to say, judging but his gaping mouth. 

 

“What led to this?” Allura asked. 

 

“If we were related, the duel becomes more of a formality. It doesn’t have the same weight or winning conditions.”

 

Coran twisted his mustache. “I see. That certainly could be a valid way of reading the law. I’m just surprised they allowed you to do it.”

 

Pidge nodded. “Congratulations.”

 

Lance started staring at Kerchik. “Are you ok with this?”

 

Kerchik glanced at Lance, and then away again. “I suggested it.”

 

Instantly, Pidge’s curiosity was piqued. “How did that happen?”

 

“I know that you all have questions, but there are other things we need to talk about as well,” Shiro said. 

 

Kerchik looked at Keith. 

 

“You can go. I think Alex might still be waiting.”

 

“Alex came out of his room?!” Pidge said incredulously. 

 

“We are  _ not  _ getting sidetracked.” Shiro said firmly. 

 

Kerchik hesitated a moment longer, then left the room. 

 

“First, It has been decided what Pidge’s consequences will be.” Shiro said. Avoiding, Pidge thought, who it was that had decided. “Once Kolom comes back, Pidge will have no contact with either her or Dak for a full week. Also, she will not be alone with either or both of them for a month.”

 

Pidge looked around the room, as the others were giving slow nods, as if they agreed. 

 

“This is not so much a punishment as it is a way to regain trust.” Shiro continued. “You’ve shown us that you don’t have self control in this area. By showing self control in this way, you can show us that we can trust you again, even in areas where it is hard for you.”

 

“But, what if we don’t get Kolom back?” Pidge asked. 

 

“She’s coming back. That is the next thing we will discuss. For now, I need you to acknowledge that you realize the severity of your actions, that you understand and accept the consequences, and that you understand we will have to act much more drastically if you break these two rules.”

 

Pidge bit the inside of her cheek. She nodded. “I understand. I’m sorry for breaking the rules, and I’ll follow these new ones.”

 

Lance, who was sitting beside her, threw an arm around her shoulders. “Then we forgive you.”

 

“Of course we do,” Hunk echoed. 

 

Keith nodded and Shiro smiled at her. 

 

Pidge tried to smile back, but couldn’t do it without tearing up. She might not like the rules much, or at all, but she was relieved that this wasn’t hanging over her head anymore. 

 

“Now, I need to say that Kolom contacted me.” Shiro said. 

 

“What?” Allura said. “How? What did she say?”

 

“Where is she?” Lance asked. 

 

“She says that she found out about a group that intends to attack us during the duel. She would like to tell us who it is, and other details about what they’re planning, but she wants something in return.” Shiro looked right at Allura. 

 

“What?” She said. 

 

“She wants to come back, and she wants to be treated like anyone else in this castle.”

 

Allura frowned. 

 

Coran set his hand on her elbow. 

 

She looked back at him, then again at Shiro. “Fine. I do  _ not  _ like that she would manipulate us in this way, but I will grant her request.”

 

“Are the rest of you ok with Kolom’s conditions?” Shiro asked. 

 

“What happened? Do you know?” Lance asked. “Because if she did walk away, it’s possible that she could be lying to us to get what she wants.”

 

“Lance! You know she wouldn’t lie to us!” Pidge burst out. 

 

“The thing is, I don’t. Not because she’s lied to us before, but because she hasn’t yet had to.” Lance was serious. He was serious a lot ever since he had been going on diplomatic missions with Allura. Pidge wasn’t sure she liked it. 

 

“I don’t think so.” Hunk said. “Because it would be pretty easy for us to tell if she was lying. If she says that we’ll be attacked during the duel, and we aren’t, then she was lying, and it’d be obvious. Whether or not she’s trustworthy, we know that she’s not dumb.”

 

“What are we going to do about the attack?” Keith asked. “Even if we know who it is, we can’t just go after them before they’ve done anything.”

 

There was silence for a brief moment before Allura spoke. “I propose that we hold the duel as if we don’t know anything. We ought to all wear armor, as if in support of Keith, and be prepared. When they attack, we attack back, and afterward, we come forward to the authorities with Kolom and her knowledge. They will be able to apprehend the rest of the criminals.”

 

“I think we ought to inform the authorities of our suspicions beforehand,” Shiro said. 

 

“They’d be more prepared to go after the people in that case,” Lance added. 

 

Allura laced her fingers together while she thought. “Alright.”

 

“Are we all agreed on everything?” Shiro asked. 

 

They all nodded. 

 

“Now, I don’t want you overwhelming Kerchik, but don’t ignore him either, and certainly don’t be unkind.” Shiro said. He looked at Keith. “Do you have anything you want to add?” 

 

Keith shook his head. 

 

“Then this meeting is adjourned!” Lance said pompously, and with a wide flourish that Pidge had to duck under. 

  
  


——————————————————————   
  


 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much if you’ve read all this so far! I know I’m writing for a dying fandom, but I’m glad that some people still enjoy my work.


	4. Chapter Four

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Finally, the duel and all that ensues from it.

It was the day of the duel. Keith was nervous. Not that he had any reason to worry about it’s outcome, that had been scripted. He was worried about what to do with Kerchik. He had hardly spoken other than to discuss the duel. Not to mention the whole adoption business. It was a mess, and Keith knew it better than anyone. 

Keith stood on one side of the ring. The duel was to be held in an hour, but there were quite a few people gathered already. Kerchik walked past him, going to the other side of the ring. Keith was struck again with something that had been bugging him since they arrived on Zhyrgg, the people smelled weird. He wasn’t sure whether it was a kind of perfume, or just because they were aliens, or what. It also didn’t seem to bother the others, meaning he might have to add ‘enhanced smelling’ to his list of changes since he found out he was Galra. But whatever it was, it was a very unpleasant smell, one he wished he could stop somehow. 

He breathed in deeply through his mouth. He had to be patient. But it didn’t help knowing that he was bait. That even now he was probably being targeted. 

 

——————————————————————

 

Pidge had been put on coordination. She was in a room covered with monitors, about twenty of which she was using. She was glad that they had decided to talk to the authorities first. On the helmets of the police forces, and given to Shiro, Allura, and Lance, were small earpieces that had a camera in front. So Pidge could see all that happened, from a first person perspective, and she had a switchboard she could use to communicate with one or all of them. 

At the moment, they were all still taking their places. Lance was looking at Hunk, who was trying rather fruitlessly to get some of the crowd off of the arena, when suddenly he swung his head around. He started looking in a different direction, and his light on the switchboard turned on. Pidge pushed the button. 

“-with the green tunic thing. He’s got a headset like ours, but I don’t think I saw him earlier.”

“I see him.” Pidge said. “I’ll tell Shiro.”

Over the next few minutes, several of the native police reported about people, some in the crowd, some dressed as police, who had headsets on, but were not on the selected team. There were at least thirty of them. More than the twenty Pidge had. 

For the first time, the threat of civilian casualties became real to her. And judging by the strain in Shiro’s voice as she kept reporting, it was becoming real to him as well. 

 

—————————————————————

 

Kolom was still in the same dark room she’d been in nearly all week. One of the people that Thress, her partner, had contacted was in the police force, and he had given them a bunch of equipment, including a much better way of communication with the soldiers. Kolom was sitting behind one console, and Thress behind the other. They each had about twenty people, who were almost in position, which was good, because the match was about to start. Kolom still wasn’t sure quite how she’d do it, but she fully intended to send her side of things into confusion once the order to fight was issued. 

 

—————————————————————-

 

Hunk didn’t have a communicator like the other paladins. His job was, as soon as things started looking suspicious, to step in bodily and protect Keith and Kerchik. For some kind of legal reasons, which only Allura had really understood, Keith was supposed to avoid fighting anyone but Kerchik until the match had been formally ended. 

So, Hunk was standing on one end of the arena, just outside the line, behind Keith. Behind Kerchik, on the other side, was a half Zhyrggian, half Galra person, who was connected to Kerchik somehow. 

The crowd was becoming more agitated, louder, roiling as much as Hunk’s stomach was threatening to. 

Someone, who looked very official, though Hunk hadn’t seen him before, stepped into the middle of the ring and held up his hands. The crowd hushed. 

“Since we’re all here, and the fighters are prepared, we will begin the match.” He said, his voice carrying over the crowd, which erupted with noise. It wasn’t cheers, neither was it booing, just noise. 

Hunk was shocked. There was supposed to still be a while before the match was supposed to begin. But people were already closing in around the ring, some even standing on the line. Hunk stepped forward so he was just inside the ring, and so did Kerchik’s friend. 

The man in the middle took a step back, yelling out “Five!” With each word he took another step back. “Four!” 

Kerchik shifted his grip on the sword he was holding. 

“Three!”

Keith shot a glance at Hunk, and then focused all his attention on Kerchik, slowly crouching down. 

“Two!”

Hunk sought out Shiro in the crowd. Shiro gave him a stiff nod. Everything was still under control. 

The alien had reached the edge of the ring. “Fight!” He disappeared into the crowd. 

Kerchik ran toward Keith with an angry yell, aiming his sword at Keith’s stomach. Keith sidestepped, but, as they had planned, he let the sword nick his side. Then he spun his sword around in the grip and slammed the hilt into the back of Kerchik’s head. Kerchik dropped. 

The crowd exploded. The circle of the ring was ignored as suddenly there were weapons and laser fire, cries of alarm and of pain. 

Hunk grabbed Keith, who was trying to lift Kerchik, and barely managed to keep them from being trampled. He felt the familiar pressure of a laser beam hitting his armor, and the armor dispersing the energy. Then again. And again. 

Keith and Kerchik had on armor, but no helmets. Hunk shifted them so he had them both in a bear hug, Kerchik between him and Keith. He wrapped his arms around Keith’s head and hoped no one was a good enough shot to hit Keith where his arms didn’t cover. 

People surged and bumped into them, several screaming something in different languages. But Hunk knew he couldn’t look. He couldn’t divert his attention. He had to keep Keith and Kerchik safe. Shiro and Lance and Pidge were handling the crowd. Allura was out there too. Along with many members of the Zhyrggian government and police. 

All he had to do was keep them upright and together. 

A small someone latched onto his calf, and he prayed that it would be over soon. He felt a face being hidden in the back of his knee. 

 

—————————————————————-.

 

As soon as the fighting had broken out, Lance had used his jet pack to get on top of a roof, where he could see clearly. He started picking off anyone using laser guns, since the government agents had said that they wouldn’t use them for fear of hurting innocent people in the crowd. 

Hunk and Keith were huddled together in the enter of everything, making them an easy target to shoot at. From his position, Lance couldn’t see Kerchik, but what he could see, was anyone who was shooting at Hunk and Keith. Since the laser blasts weren’t strong enough to penetrate their armor, they were relatively safe, and Lance could watch where the lasers were coming from, spot the person holding a gun, and pick them off. 

He looked back to Hunk, but couldn’t see him. The crowd swirled around where he had been, and Lance could catch glimpses of yellow and red, but he could really see either Hunk or Keith. 

A laser blast hitting the weaker armor on his hand nearly made him drop his bayard. He frantically looked around, but he couldn’t see where the shot had come from. 

The roof was lit up with a barrage of laser fire. Lance activated his jet pack, but with him laying down on the roof, it shoved him off the edge and into the crowd. 

For the next few moments, his world was feet. All he could see were feet, and he was being stepped on repeatedly. At least these aliens weren’t all that heavy. No, that one really hurt. He must be heavy. 

Then there was a hand. A familiar hand. Lance grabbed it and held on for dear life as it pulled him up and out from underneath the ocean of people. 

“You alright?” Shiro asked. 

“I will be. Thanks.”

“Pidge, do we know how Hunk and Keith are doing?” Shiro waited a moment. “We’ll find him. You focus on your job now. Come on, Lance.”

Shiro pulled Lance through the crowd, closer to the center. Somehow it still hadn’t dispersed, even though it seemed that most of the people just wanted to get out. 

 

—————————————————————-

 

Kolom felt proud that she had managed to keep her half of men at less than half of their best performance, but still, she wished she could do more. 

“To your left!” She yelled at one. 

“Where?!”

“Left!” 

He spun nearly in a circle, looking for a nonexistent enemy. “Where?!”

“Too far. Right now. Gotta go.”

Someone was targeting Allura, who looked to be having more than enough to deal with already. 

“Behind you! Watch out! Duck!”

He ducked, and thankfully, a stray laser bolt flew over his head. “Thanks, Kolom.”

By the time he was ready to go after her again, she had pared down the number of enemies facing her. 

 

——————————————————————-

 

“There he is!” Pidge yelled. The operative she was currently directing recognized the man as well, and lunged towards him before he could get sucked back into the crowd. 

“Your keys! I need your keys!” 

“What? I can’t give them to you.”

“I’m part of the police and I’m trying to stop this insanity! Now you will give them to me or I will take them!”

The man fumbled in his pockets and handed over a ring of keys. 

“Good! Go to the east gate,” Pidge said, after consulting her map. “It’ll let them out the quickest.”

This operative had a very one-track mind, and was able to follow her instructions without getting distracted by the tumult. Pidge loved him right now. He ran toward the east gate. 

“Ok, now see the door on the left of the gate? Open that one with the keys. I’m almost sure it’s a barricade, and the gate itself isn’t locked.”

Her operative did exactly as she had asked, and found a thick bar wedged against the gate. He was able to move it by himself, and opened the gate. A few people noticed right away, but most were still in a panic and circling round and round the square. 

Pidge pushed the button that opened all the channels she had. 

“All of you, repeat loudly after me: the east gate is open!” 

She got a chorus of ‘the east gate is open!’ from all of the operatives able to answer. She closed most of the channels, and was glad to see a stream of people disperse through the gate. 

Finally she could see Keith and Hunk again, although people did keep getting in front of the camera. 

She switched to her dependable operative. “Go to the red and yellow paladins. I need to see them better.”

It took him a moment to figure out where to go, but he went near them, and Pidge’s fears were confirmed. They were in a heap on the ground, and the ground was red with blood. 

 

——————————————————————-

 

The door burst open and police swarmed in. Kolom immediately raised her hands in surrender, pushing back slowly away from the console. Both her and Thress were handcuffed, and led to a paddy wagon where there were already several members of the resistance, most with cuts and bruises covering them. 

 

——————————————————————-

 

Finally, the crowd was clearing. Lance could see them now. 

“Hunk!”

“Keith!”

Keith was struggling, trying to move Hunk, who was practically laying on top of him and Kerchik. There was blood everywhere. Hunk wasn’t moving. 

Lance rushed to him and Shiro rushed to Keith. 

“What happened?” Shiro said first. 

“I don’t know. I think he got hit with something. He tried to keep us from being trampled, but when the people stopped coming he passed out.” Keith said. 

“We’ve got to get you two to the pods.” Lance said. He inspected Hunk, and found a lot of small cuts on his lower legs, but nothing life threatening. “Shiro, I can’t lift him myself.”

Shiro helped Lance, and the pulled Hunk off of Keith and Kerchik, but they still couldn’t carry him. 

Keith stood up, holding his side. 

“Are you all right?” Shiro asked. 

Keith waved the question off. “Did we get them?” 

“Several already, and the police are after the rest. We have names, addresses, and now crimes.” Lance said. 

Keith nodded, swaying slightly. “How’s everyone else?”

“They’re fine. Probably more worried about you than anything.” Shiro said. 

Keith nodded again, then sat—more like collapsed—on the ground. 

Lance was aware that he had a tremendous headache coming on. 

Allura came running up. “Are you all alright?”

“Nothing pods won’t fix.” Shiro said. 

“I’ll help get them there.” Allura shifted to be larger. I’ll get Hunk. Lance, if you will help Keith, and Shiro, can you carry Kerchik?”

“Yeah.” Shiro said, picking up Kerchik. 

Allura was able to pick up Hunk, and even to make it look easy. Lance was impressed. 

He helped Keith to get up, but Keith didn’t want any help to walk. 

For once, the tightness of the pod didn’t bother him. Instead, the quiet and the coolness was pleasant as he drifted off. 

 

——————————————————————

 

Kolom knew as soon as she walked into the room that something was wrong. There was a boy sitting on one of the medical beds, looking in at the pods. He didn’t look very Galran, but he certainly smelled like one. 

It struck her as similar to another scene she had seen before. It was a boy, in a very similar position, looking on at his father, who had been critically injured. She couldn’t even remember how young she herself had been at the time. 

“What’s he feeling, Kolom?” Her mother had asked. 

“He’s sad.”

“No. Smell it. You have my good nose, tell me what he’s feeling.”

Kolom took in a deep breath. “Hurt. Something’s gone.”

“Good. What’s gone?”

“I don’t know.”

“You smell that little sharp thing?”

Kolom frowned, but nodded. 

“It means he lost someone very close to him. He thinks that his father won’t stay alive.”

“But his dad’s ok, isn’t he?”

“That doesn’t matter. I’m going to go talk to him. I want you to pay attention to how the smell changes, and what changes about it, ok? Someday you’ll be able to catch yourself anyone you want.”

Kolom waited just outside the door. A moment later, the sharp part of the smell grew much stronger, overpowering the other scent still lingering in the air. Her mother had winked at her secretively, and Kolom had tried to wink back. 

This situation now was similar. This boy had lost someone close to him. But the pod he was staring at was Keith’s, and he certainly couldn’t have any great connection with him. 

“Hi,” Kolom said softly. 

The boy looked over at her. “Hi.”

“I know this may seem insensitive, but, did you lose someone?”

“Didn’t everyone?”

Kolom shrugged. “I don’t think I did.”

The boy looked down and swung his feet. “I lost my dad. He wasn’t even a great dad. Still miss him though.”

Kolom hummed quietly in response. She waited a moment before continuing. “So what brought you here?”

The boy scoffed. “Where’ve you been? I picked a fight with the red paladin. He didn’t want to kill me or give in, and I certainly wasn’t just going to fold like that, so we adopted each other.”

“Hmm. But you didn’t really want to.”

“No, it was my idea.”

“But you aren’t interested in Voltron, or paladins.”

“Not really. I just couldn’t stay.”

“And you’re going to stay here for that?”

The boy’s face wrinkled up. “Not if I can help it.”

“Why are you here then?”

He scoffed. “These people are stubborn. And paranoid. I have to leave properly or they’ll do something crazy, like think I’ve been kidnapped.”

Kolom thought about it a moment. “I have a suggestion.”

He raised an eyebrow and cocked his head.

 

___________________________________________________

 

“Hey, Pidge!” Kolom said cheerfully. “How’s Dak been doing?”

There was a pause on the other end of the line. “I can’t talk to you.” Her voice was kind of dead-sounding. Kolom was curious, but Kerchik was waiting on her still.

“I see. Can you connect me to your brother?”

There was a long pause, and Kolom knew Pidge was dying to ask why, but whatever injunction had been laid upon her held precedence, and she didn’t say anything. The call ended.

“I knew it wouldn’t work.” Kerchik said.

“Give her a moment,” Kolom said, fully believing that she would get in touch with Matt.

Sure enough, soon there was a call from a scrambled source. Kolom answered. “Yes?”

“What do you want?” Matt said curiously. 

“Has Pidge told you about the whole situation here?”

“More or less. Is it over now?”

“More or less. The thing is, Kerchik doesn’t actually want to stay here. Is there any chance you can arrange for him to join you guys?”

“Why are you calling? Why not Shiro or Keith? From what I understand, they’re in charge.”

Kolom hummed. “At least Keith is still in a pod. I actually haven’t seen Shiro in a bit. I talked to Kerchik, and now I’m arranging things.”

“You can’t do that. Talk to Shiro, and Keith, once they’re ready. I’ll see what I can do on my end. Until then I can’t promise anything.”

The call ended. “Well,” Kolom said with a big smile. “Now all we have to do is wait.”

Kerchik looked doubtful. 

 

________________________________________

 

Once everyone who needed them had exited the pods, there was a meeting. Kolom insisted on being included, and Pidge excused herself, saying that she would catch up on some work. Kolom thought that she had more or less figured out what was the reason for Pidge’s avoidance of her, but she couldn’t really confirm without asking directly, and that might cause issues. She still hadn’t seen Dak, mostly because she knew that once she saw him, she wouldn’t let him out of her sight for quite a while, and things needed to be stable before that.

The meeting had been called, and everyone had been gathered, but no one was saying anything yet, so Kolom decided that she might as well start.

“Kerchik would like to join the rebels.”

All eyes turned toward Kerchik, who wasn’t meeting anyone’s gaze.

Keith frowned, clearly confused.

“What do you have to say about this, Kerchik?” Shiro asked.

“I do want to go.”

“Why? How do you even know about them?” Lance asked.

“Kolom told me.”

Shiro looked at Kolom. He was better at presenting a stoic face than any of the others, but Kolom could see that he thought she had, was still trying to, scare off Kerchik.

“I did tell him about the rebels, but the desire to leave is all his own.” She said, not allowing herself to be intimidated.

Kerchik was far too nervous around the paladins to say things clearly, and just nodded. She could have used some of his help. It sounded fake, when she said things for him.

Keith’s frown deepened, then smoothed out into a look of understanding. “You want to get off planet, but not necessarily with us.”

Kerchik nodded. “I’d rather someplace where I would have independence.”

Shiro clearly understood now too. “I see. We’ll have to contact the rebels, then.”

Kolom decided that it wouldn’t be smart to mention that she had already called Matt, so she just nodded.

“Well, I don’t mind.” Lance said. “I’d be glad myself to get off this planet and forget it.”

__________________________________

 

In a startlingly short time, Hunk thought, Lance’s wish came true. Kerchik left with the rebels, the fortifications on the planet were built, everything had settled down, and they were able to move on. And they did. No one had really liked the planet. 

Finally, they had peace. For a whole week they were able to move slowly, rest, and slowly make it to their next planet.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I've kinda lost a bit of motivation for this, and I'm sure it's obvious. I feel like this chapter is really choppy, because I haven't been careful with it. I've had a good idea for the next planet for a while, but unless someone wants to read it, I may not write it. I hope that some people enjoyed Changing Tomorrow, because I've enjoyed it, as well as the first two works in this series.
> 
> I'll go ahead and tell you the idea, so you actually have an idea whether you want it or not. I wanted the next planet to suck quintessence out of people, and give it back to them as 'magic'. I have thought for a while that Galra are a bit lacking in quintessence, which is why they crave it so much, so a planet like this is going to have a strong effect on all my Galra characters, obviously including Keith. This next part would move a little faster on the Kidge dynamic, maybe starting to really set up some romance.
> 
> This fandom might well be dead, though. *sigh* Maybe I should move on? Find something else to write for? Comment, and if you suggest any fandoms I'm in, I'll seriously think about writing something for them.


End file.
